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German Films Quarterly 2 · 2011 IN CANNES Cannes Classics THE LOOK – CHARLOTTE RAMPLING by Angelina Maccarone PORTRAITS Director Joachim Masannek Ostlicht Filmproduktion Actress Karoline Herfurth

IN COMPETITION

IN COMPETITION

le HaVre

melanCHolia

by aki Kaurismäki german co-producer Pandora Film/Cologne World Sales the match Factory/Cologne

by lars von trier german co-producer Zentropa international Köln/Cologne World Sales trustnordisk/Hvidovre

UN CERTAIN REGARD

SPECIAL SCREENING

Halt auF Freier streCKe

miCHel PetruCCiani

stoPPed on traCK by andreas dresen producer rommel Film/Berlin World Sales the match Factory/Cologne

by michael radford german co-producer looKs Filmproduktionen/Berlin World Sales Wild Bunch/Paris

CANNES CLASSICS

CINÉFONDATION

tHe looK – CHarlotte ramPlinG

der BrieF

by angelina maccarone german producers taG/traum Filmproduktion/Cologne & Prounen Film/Berlin World Sales mK2 diffusion/Paris

tHe letter by doroteya droumeva producer/World Sales deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (dffb)

CINÉFONDATION

DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT

der WeCHselBalG

mila Caos

DIRECTORS' FORTNIGHT

CRITICS' WEEK

sur la PlanCHe

tHe slut

CHanGelinG by maria steinmetz producer/World Sales Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen “ Konrad Wolf” /Potsdam-Babelsberg

by leila Kilani german co-producer Vandertastic/Berlin World Sales aurora Films/Paris

by simon Jaikiriuma Paetau producer/World Sales academy of media arts (KHm)/Cologne

by Hagar Ben asher german co-producer rohfilm/Berlin World Sales Films distribution/Paris

All photos courtesy of producers and world sales agents. Credits not contractual.

in the official program of the 64th feStiVal De canneS 2011

German Films and Co-ProduCtions

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German Films Quarterly portraits

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2 · 2011

HARD WORK FOR KIDS A portrait of director Joachim Masannek

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EASTERN GLOW A portrait of Ostlicht Filmproduktion

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DEVELOPING HER CRAFT A portrait of Karoline Herfurth

10 news

in production

14 BIS ZUM HORIZONT, DANN LINKS! Bernd Böhlich

CIRCLES Srdan Golubovic 15 DOPPELLEBEN Douglas Wolfsperger

DIE ERFINDUNG DER LIEBE Lola Randl 16 GNADE Matthias Glasner

IM NEBEL Sergei Loznitsa 17 INVASION Dito Tsintsadze

KLAPPE COWBOY! Timo Jacobs & Ulf Behrens 18 RUBBELDIEKATZ Detlev Buck

RUSSENDISKO Oliver Ziegenbalg 19 SECHSTER SINN, DRITTES AUGE, ZWEITES GESICHT Jan Riesenbeck

SUSHI IN SUHL Carsten Fiebeler 20 VOICE – SCULPTING SOUND WITH MAJA RATKJE Ingo J. Biermann

new german films

22 4 TAGE IM MAI 4 DAYS IN MAY Achim von Borries 23 BABA George Inci 24 DREILEBEN – EINE MINUTE DUNKEL

DREILEBEN – ONE MINUTE OF DARKNESS Christoph Hochhäusler 25 DREILEBEN – ETWAS BESSERES ALS DEN TOD

DREILEBEN – BEATS BEING DEAD Christian Petzold 26 DREILEBEN – KOMM MIR NICHT NACH

DREILEBEN – DON’T FOLLOW ME AROUND Dominik Graf 27 DIE FARBE DES OZEANS COLOR OF THE OCEAN Maggie Peren 28 FRONTALWATTE Jakob Lass 29 GEKAUFTE WAHRHEIT SCIENTISTS UNDER ATTACK Bertram Verhaag 30 GERHARD RICHTER PAINTING Corinna Belz 31 KADDISCH FÜR EINEN FREUND KADDISH FOR A FRIEND Leo Khasin 32 KRIEGERIN COMBAT GIRLS David F. Wnendt 33 THE LOOK – CHARLOTTE RAMPLING Angelina Maccarone 34 MAMA AFRICA Mika Kaurismäki 35 MANOLO Robert Bohrer 36 NYMAN IN PROGRESS Silvia Beck 37 RABENJUNGE RAVENBOY Andrea Deppert 38 DAS ROTE ZIMMER THE RED ROOM Rudolf Thome 39 SEPPI & HIAS – BAYERISCH-TÜRKISCHE LAUSBUBENGESCHICHTEN

SEPPI & HIAS – THE BAVARIAN-TURKISH LITTLE RASCALS Emre Koca 40 SXVAGAN – FORT SXVAGAN – AWAY Tinatin Gurchiani 41 TAGE DIE BLEIBEN A FAMILY OF THREE Pia Strietmann 42 ÜBER UNS DAS ALL ABOVE US ONLY SKY Jan Schomburg 43 UNDERWATER LOVE Shinji Imaoka 44 DIE VERLORENE ZEIT REMEMBRANCE Anna Justice 45 ZIMMER 67 ROOM 67 Matthias Maasz 48 film exporters 51 foreign representatives · imprint

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DIRECTOR PORTRAIT

Joachim Masannek (photo © Erika Hauri)

It is probably not being too shameless to assume that Joachim Masannek himself is rather a “wild guy”. Born in 1960 in Hamm, North Rhine-Westphalia, he tells stories about his childhood and youth that make it seem certain those years have also been a source of inspiration for his success as a children’s author and filmmaker. He grew up in a mining community where everyone knew everyone else – a whole crowd of kids spent their afternoons together. “After our homework, no one took any interest in us until the sun went down, so we had to occupy ourselves,” he recalls. There was no television, no constant stream of entertainment, but there was a lot of football, of course. Initially, Masannek studied German Philology and Philosophy, at the age of 23 he landed in Munich and soon afterwards at the local film school. As from 1992 he worked as a set designer and cameraman for various productions, later as a screenplay writer and script consultant. For a long time, however, his ideas for children’s films fell on deaf ears, although his children’s musical THE GRAPEFRUIT MOON (1989) received some positive echoes. Things have changed now, though: he found his inspiration for the greatest ever German children’s film success in his work as a football trainer – his two sons were among the original “wild guys”. Today Masannek says that as an artist, one probably ought never to grow up completely – and children keep you even younger. If this is true, we still have plenty to look forward to, as soon the filmmaker is due to become a father for the third time. His films include: BOMBER (short, 1992), IN LIEBE, CATHERINE (short, 1992), DER BÄR (commercial, 1992), and all five THE WILD SOCCER BUNCH (DIE WILDEN KERLE) films. Agent Heppeler Agency Steinstr. 54 · 81667 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-44 88 484 · fax +49-89-44 70 995 [email protected] · www.agentur-heppeler.de

HARD WORK FOR KIDS A portrait of Joachim Masannek Joachim Masannek has been one of the most successful children’s film directors in Germany for the past decade. His achievement is based on a solid work ethic and an awareness of children’s lives that is far removed from dusty textbooks. Joachim Masannek’s working hours are extreme: “I get up and start work between four and half past five,” he says. And at peak times, when one more screenplay has to be written in six weeks and a children’s book needs finishing off at the same time, his working days never seem to end. But without this rigid self-discipline Masannek’s career since 2002 might have been rather different. Overall, his five THE WILD SOCCER BUNCH films have drawn nine million visitors to German cinemas – an absolute record. But first they had to be

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written, adapted into screenplays and then filmed. “Always, there was incredible time pressure,” he says. All this effort has been well worthwhile. Masannek is one of Germany’s most successful filmmakers, but in a Munich café the director, with his striking long blond hair, can still escape detection. He says he doesn’t like being in the public eye. And let’s be honest: he doesn’t have much time for it. He has written 13 Wild Soccer Bunch books (and sold nine million copies of them); three of seven parts of the Wildernacht series – not yet filmed – are finished to date, and the third volume of his latest book series Honky Tonk Pirates is just coming out. And, of course, he has started writing the fourth already.

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He goes on reading tours, writes treatments for other planned projects, and is already busy with casting for the film version of his pirate series. UFA Cinema wants to launch the film as a major event – in 3D and as a franchise, of course. This type of thing has to be planned well in advance: it won’t be possible to stick to the original plan, which was to begin shooting at the end of 2011. But after THE WILD SOCCER BUNCH, Masannek can take his time before going one better with the child pirates. The new film story centers on 14year-old Will, who sets out with his best friend in search of a treasure, competing with other pirates and a quick-witted – and naturally quite pretty – young pirate princess. Masannek’s material is modern and fast-moving. He says that he actually never wanted to be a children’s author, but a director from the outset. He found his subject, the process of growing up, through his own sons. He wanted to read aloud to his children as much as possible, but they no longer appreciated children’s books from his own youth. As a father, therefore, he told them new stories quite spontaneously – and the time came when he began to write them down. “All the stories are true,” he writes on his website, and indeed, these books and films are close to the worlds that children live in. It’s all about boys who long to be strong and girls who want to speak their minds – whether in the world of football or among pirates.

His works are impulsive and the children in them are loud, daring and wild – in other words, strong characters. That is the most important thing for Masannek when writing: “I’m a bad planner. It’s true I have a concept of sorts for the story, but I am always abandoning it. The stories develop from the characters’ interaction with each other.” The result certainly fascinates his target audiences. But the decisive factor behind his success is a maxim which the filmmaker has taken more to heart than any other director in Germany. “Children’s constant wish is to be grown-up. A three-year-old imagines himself as a grown-up knight in shining armor when he is playing.” That is why the “Wild Soccer Bunch” strut about the place like rockers, always shooting their mouths off. Inevitably, much the same will be true of Masannek’s film pirates. Masannek has done a lot of thinking about bringing up children and his books have been oriented consistently on his attitudes as a father. “In my fictional world, children are not allowed to help adults,” he says. And: “We educate our children until they reach a point when they no longer want to be grown-up.” His child characters are the opposite: strong and free. And to bring them to life, their creator is more than happy to get up early now and then. Christoph Gröner

GmbH

When it comes to filming, Masannek leaves the lonely work behind him and relies on the creativity of the whole team. “You should never regard the screenplay as set in stone,” he explains, regarding his own books as “quarries” for the films – in this way he had already arrived at material from the thirteenth Wild Soccer Bunch book in the third film. The fact that he is capable of radically jettisoning material is

demonstrated by an anecdote from the shooting of part four. Filming a football match with motorbikes caused a lot of confusion in the shooting schedule because of technical difficulties. Masannek simply ripped the first twelve pages out of the screenplay – and so managed to finish the film on time.

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Marcel Lenz, Guido Schwab (photo © Ostlicht Filmproduktion/Katharina Simmet)

PRODUCER PORTRAIT

Ostlicht Filmproduktion was founded in 2003 by the writerdirector Hagen Keller and producer Guido Schwab and has belonged to Schwab and Marcel Lenz since 2009. Ostlicht’s avowed goal is “to narrate dramatic, stirring stories for young and old, to move and inspire.” Keller’s feature debut MEER IS NICH, which was also Ostlicht’s first feature production, won the 2007 Bavarian Film Prize for Best Newcomer Actor for Elinor Lüdde as well as the Young Lion at the second edition of the Filmfest Hachenburg. Ostlicht was the German partner on the Serbian-German-Swedish co-production of Oleg Novkovic’s WHITE WHITE WORLD which premiered at last year’s Locarno Film Festival where it picked up the Leopard for Best Actress for the female lead Jasna Duricic and the CICAE Prix Art & Essai. Novkovic was also awarded the Grand Prix for Best Film in the competition at the 20th edition of the Cottbus Film Festival. In April 2011, the film was invited to screen in the new sidebar Viewpoints at the Tribeca Film Festival. In addition, the company co-produced

Bulgarian filmmaker Viktor Chouchkov Jr’s debut TILT which won three awards at the “Golden Rose” film festival in Varna last autumn and is currently doing very well at the Bulgarian box office. The company’s other films include: WHERE IN THIS WORLD (dir: Markus Wambsganß, music video, 2008), THE PIG (DAS SCHWEIN, dir: Erzsebet Racz, 2009, short), FÜR ELISE (dir: Wolfgang Dinslage, in post-production, 2011), THE WOMAN WHO BRUSHED OFF HER TEARS (working title, dir: Teona Mitevska, in production, 2011), RONNY WORLDWIDE (in development), and SPUTNIK (dir: Markus Dietrich, in development). Contact Ostlicht Filmproduktion GmbH Ackerwand 23 · 99423 Weimar/Germany phone +49-36 43-41 40 90 · fax +49-36 43-4 14 09 19 [email protected] · www.ostlicht.de

EASTERN GLOW A portrait of Ostlicht Filmproduktion “The choice of the name Ostlicht was supposed to be a synonym for the fact that light comes from the East, with the sun rising from there every day,” says co-founder Guido Schwab about the Weimar-based company’s name.

since Ostlicht has been involved to date in three international co-productions with East European filmmakers. “It just happened that it was these projects we boarded because there isn’t any specific focus on the East European region.”

“Admittedly, one might have thought that the name had something to do with a focus on Eastern Europe,” partner Marcel Lenz adds,

However, from the outset, Ostlicht has been particularly interested in working with filmmakers on their feature debuts, beginning in 2006

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with Hagen Keller’s MEER IS NICH which was released by Kinowelt in German cinemas in 2008.

Ostlicht became the German partner on a project by another EAVE alumnus, Macedonian actress-producer Labina Mitevska.

“This film was a little sensation as it introduced the director and our company to a wider public,” Lenz recalls. “It was premiered in Hof in 2007 and then won a Bavarian Film Prize for Best Newcomer Actor for Elinor Lüdde in 2008 as well as picking up the Young Lion Award at the second edition of the Filmfest Hachenburg.”

Shooting began at the end of March and wrapped in mid-May on Teona Strugar Mitevska’s third feature THE WOMAN WHO BRUSHED OFF HER TEARS which is being co-produced with the Mitevskis and Belgium’s Entre Chien et Loup and Slovenia’s Vertigo Film.

MEER IS NICH had been one of the first projects developed at Ostlicht thanks to slate funding support granted by Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM) in 2005. “That funding gave us the freedom over the period of two years to gradually build up our company,” Schwab observes.

The drama focuses on two women – Helena (played by Victoria Abril) living with her husband and son in a West European city, and Aysun (Labina Mitevska) who lives with her son at her father’s home in a Macedonian mountain village – who, despite their widely varying living conditions and origins from contrasting cultures, are fighting for the same goal: self-determination.

At the same time, the Ostlicht duo has been keen to expand their network past Germany’s borders to become involved in international projects. Attending the East-West co-production market Connecting Cottbus in 2008 brought Schwab and Lenz together with the Bulgarian brothers Viktor and Borislav Chouchkov, who were there to pitch Viktor’s feature debut TILT.

“We have been directly involved in the development of the screenplay,” Lenz explains. “Sometimes, one has to work on screenplays so that they become more accessible to an international audience. We really are interested in cooperation rather than just giving money.”

“The fact that we came onboard TILT is thanks to Borislav’s persistency,” Lenz recalls. “Bit by bit, they moved the project away from being just a Bulgarian film to stand as a European project which would be understood in other countries. When the film had been eliminated of purely national codes, we were happy to become a partner and develop the project further.”

Parallel to these international projects, Ostlicht has been continuing to develop feature debuts by young German directors. Last autumn saw shooting in Jena and Weimar of Wolfgang Dinslage’s drama FÜR ELISE based on a screenplay by Hungarian-born writer-director Erzsebet Racz. This project continued a collaboration with Racz that had seen Ostlicht producing her short THE PIG, which won the Audience Award for Best Short at the ARTE Short Film Festival last year.

“We had an extremely positive experience with what was our first international co-production,” he continues. “We have had good feedback from audiences at the festivals where the film has been shown so far.” In fact, Ostlicht had a situation in the spring of 2009 where it was working on two international projects at the same time. The second one – Serbian filmmaker Oleg Novkovic’s WHITE WHITE WORLD – had come to the company’s attention via Connecting Cottbus and through Schwab’s participation in the 2008 edition of the EAVE producers’ course with the feature film project FÜR ELISE when he met the Serbian actor-producer Uliks Fehmiu who was looking for partners for Novkovic’s film. “Initially, it was difficult to imagine or formulate what the film would look like stylistically,” Schwab says. “It was something we were aware of during the financing: people asked if it would be a musical or something like DANCER IN THE DARK. Fortunately, we had a strong partner in MDM who could see the film’s potential and showed their confidence in us as well.”

Selling Thuringia as a region to shoot films has become increasingly easier with time. “That has been a large part of our work and we have been pioneers in helping to develop an infrastructure in the region,” Schwab explains. “For a long time, the number of projects was not big enough for people to be based in the region all year round, but that has improved in recent years to the point where you can’t get certain people anymore because they are booked up!” Moreover, Ostlicht has developed another string to its bow by offering to function as a service producer for outside productions coming into the region. At the beginning of February 2010, the company handled the six days of shooting at locations around Jena for Saverio Costanzo’s THE SOLITUDE OF PRIME NUMBERS which was produced by Italy’s Offside srl, together with Bavaria Pictures, France’s Les Films des Tournelles, and ZDF Enterprises. Martin Blaney

WHITE WHITE WORLD had its world premiere at last year’s Locarno Film Festival where it picked up the Leopard for Best Actress for the female lead Jasna Duricic and the CICAE Prix Art & Essai. The film was also awarded the Grand Prix for Best Film at the 20th edition of the Cottbus Film Festival and screened in Tribeca’s new sidebar Viewpoints in April of this year. “The film was a big experiment, but our decision to take a risk has certainly paid off,” Schwab says. In fact, participation in EAVE, one of the training programs co-financed by the European Union’s MEDIA Program, has played a crucial role in the subsequent development of Ostlicht’s activities and choice of projects. Lenz also attended EAVE last year with the project RONNY WORLDWIDE. Indeed, it was through this producers’ network that german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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ACTRESS PORTRAIT

Karoline Herfurth (photo © LimeLight PR/Mathias Bothor)

Berlin-born Karoline Herfurth began acting after being discovered in a dance theater group by a talent scout casting for a TV production. She later made her film acting debut in Hans-Christian Schmid’s CRAZY in 2000, followed by her first leading role in Dennis Gansel’s coming of age comedy GIRLS ON TOP (MÄDCHEN MÄDCHEN), which she reprised in the sequel GIRLS ON TOP 2 (MÄDCHEN MÄDCHEN 2 – LOFT ODER LIEBE) in 2004. After completing secondary school, Karoline studied at the revered Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch in Berlin. Her work for the stage has included roles in the Maxim Gorki Theater production of Ivan Vyrypaev’s Oxygen and Ferenc Molnar’s Liliom at the Deutsches Nationaltheater in Weimar. She has also been cast in lead roles for various TV productions ranging from Uwe Janson’s PEER GYNT (2006), Roland Suso Richter’s DAS WUNDER VON BERLIN (2008) to Sibylle Tafel’s fairytale DIE GÄNSEMAGD (2009). In 2007, Karoline received the Undine Award for Best Young Supporting Actress in a feature film for her performance in Tom Tykwer’s PERFUME – THE STORY OF A MURDERER. A year later, she was awarded an Adolf Grimme Prize as part of the acting ensemble and crew of Buket Alakus’ OFFSIDE (EINE ANDERE LIGA). Her portrayal of the traumatized sister of a boy who died in an accident in Caroline Link’s A YEAR AGO IN WINTER (IM WINTER EIN JAHR) earned her the Bavarian Film Award for Best Newcomer Actress and the Prize of the German Film Critics in the category of Best Actress. Her other films include: BIG GIRLS DON’T CRY (GROSSE MÄDCHEN WEINEN NICHT, dir: Maria von Heland, 2001), JAGGED HARMONIES – BACH VS. FREDERICK II (MEIN NAME IST BACH, dir: Dominique de Rivaz, 2002), THE READER (dir: Stephen Daldry, 2008), BERLIN 36 (dir: Kaspar Heidelbach, 2008), VINCENT WANTS TO SEA (VINCENT WILL MEER, dir: Ralf Huettner, 2009), LIFE IS TOO LONG (DAS LEBEN IST ZU LANG, dir: Dani Levy, 2009), WE ARE THE NIGHT (WIR SIND DIE NACHT, dir: Dennis Gansel, 2009), DAS BLAUE VOM HIMMEL (dir: Hans Steinbichler, 2010), and ERRORS OF THE HUMAN BODY (dir: Eron Sheean, 2011). Agent Inka Stelljes Schauspieleragentur Joseph-Haydn-Str. 1 · 10557 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-25 35 99 02 · fax +49-30-32 77 93 55 [email protected] · www.inka-stelljes.de

DEVELOPING HER CRAFT A portrait of Karoline Herfurth Initially, it was more of a coincidence than by design that Karoline Herfurth came to the world of acting. The East Berlin teenager was playing in a children’s dance theater group when she was spotted by a talent scout for a part in an episode of the ZDF children’s series called ACHTERBAHN – FILME ÜBER FREUNDE HEUTE. “It was like a big adventure, but my parents decided that that was enough and I should continue with school – and, in any case, I was too young,” the now 26-year-old Karoline recalls. german films quarterly 2 · 2011

And so her thespian talents might have had only one airing in this children’s TV series if she hadn’t been approached – again, by coincidence – at the age of 15 in the school playground. This time by Franziska Schlattner, who is herself now an actress but was working at the time for casting agent Nessie Nesslauer, looking for girls for HansChristian Schmid’s CRAZY. After working on this film which was released in German cinemas in 2000, Karoline signed up with Inka Stelljes’ agency, with whom she remains to this day.

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“The more films I made and the older I got, people advised me to get a formal training in this profession,” Karoline continues. She applied to various drama schools, but was pleased when an acceptance letter came from Berlin’s revered Ernst Busch “because I would not have wanted to leave home at that stage when I was only nineteen.”

Moreover, the young actress has made her first forays into international productions with roles in Tom Tykwer’s adaptation of Patrick Süskind’s bestselling novel PERFUME – THE STORY OF A MURDERER and Stephen Daldry’s take on another German bestseller, Bernhard Schlink’s THE READER.

“One of the deciding factors behind me going to drama school was after having seen Emilia Galotti with Nina Hoss as Countess Orsina,” she says. “I was so overwhelmed by her performance at the time that I wanted to be able to be on the stage and have the courage and ability to do what she did. When we worked together on WE ARE THE NIGHT, I could at last tell her how important she had been for me.”

This spring saw Karoline take one of the leads in Australian filmmaker Eron Sheean’s gentech thriller ERRORS OF THE HUMAN BODY opposite Michael Eklund (THE DIVIDE).

Looking back on her studies at Ernst Busch she says that the training was a good preparation for her later work. “It gave me the basis and the ability to develop my craft,” she explains. “I had purposely followed a course with an emphasis on stage acting because I wanted to appear on the stage.”

“Working with this director appealed to me as did the story and the character,” Karoline says. “And I liked the challenge of playing in English. It’s definitely a different situation when you are performing in your mother tongue than acting in a foreign language. In any case, being an actor means that you have to think on two planes: thinking within the figure and the specific situation and, at the same time, blotting out everything happening around you. And then you have a third level coming in if you are acting in English.”

“There are, of course, distinctions to be made between working for the stage or for film, but the training at Ernst Busch was in essence about how one approaches a role, develops language and subtexts and can grasp thoughts.”

While some of her actor colleagues are among the “usual suspects” turning up regularly at premieres or in the gossip columns of the yellow press, Karoline shies away from the full glare of the razzamatazz surrounding the life of a film star.

Whilst still at Ernst Busch she appeared in a production of Russian film and theater director Ivan Vyrypaev’s Oxygen and was engaged after completing her studies for a staging of Ferenc Molnar’s Liliom at the Deutsches Nationatheater in Weimar.

She accepts that glamour and stardom is “part and parcel of the job, but I would put it at around 10%-20%. It is important for me that this public side has its limits because I am not someone who likes being featured a lot in the media. However, it’s alright when I can speak about a film or a character or my work.”

“I would like to have done more theater,” Karoline admits, “but it has been difficult to coordinate theater and film commitments. However, I hope a chance will come along sometime in the future.” In just over a decade since her film acting debut in CRAZY, Karoline has taken roles in films as diverse as the teenage comedies GIRLS ON TOP and the feel-good comedy VINCENT WANTS TO SEA through such dramas as OFFSIDE and A YEAR AGO IN WINTER to the vampire film WE ARE THE NIGHT. “The most important thing for me when deciding on a part is for it to be in some way or another a challenge,” she explains. “It can be the period when the film is set that interests me or the character itself; it could be the subject matter or the collaboration with certain colleagues or a certain director. Again, my choice may be decided by the genre.”

In fact, she currently manages to combine following her career as an actress with attending courses in Political Science and Sociology at Berlin’s Humboldt University. “It’s a bit frustrating at times that I don’t have so much time because I really love my studies,” she says. “There is a lot of reading and digesting information, but everything I wished for from this studying has been fulfilled 100%. It’s inspiring to go to a place where people are meeting to learn something and others are passing on their knowledge.” Martin Blaney

Kaspar Heidelbach’s BERLIN 36 – based on a true story involving Gretel Bergmann, the leading female high jumper of her time, in the run-up to the 1936 Olympic Games – was a particular challenge for Karoline on various levels. She had a training program in order to be convincing as an athlete, but also set herself the personal challenge of being as close as possible to the real Gretel Bergmann in her characterization. “I had the biography which Gretel had written, so I could read up about how she had felt and thought at certain points when I came to play the scenes. That was a perfect situation,” she recalls. “It depends with each film how much research you have to do, but some productions provide you with lots of background material. Each character has its own set of issues which you take in: in VINCENT WANTS TO SEA, Marie has anorexia nervosa, while Lilli in A YEAR AGO IN WINTER has the subject of the death of a sibling.”

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THE GRUFFALO team (photo © Volker Corell)

NEWS

GERMAN OSCAR® RECEPTION IN HOLLYWOOD Once again this year, German Films and Villa Aurora (the Foundation for European American Relations), in cooperation with the German Consulate General and the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, invited some 300 guests to the traditional pre-Oscar® afternoon reception for all German Oscar®-nominees at the Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades, California. Despite the rainy weather, the guests celebrated with the German artists nominated in different categories. German Films’ US representative Oliver Mahrdt welcomed the short film team of THE GRUFFALO (directors: Jakob Schuh, Max Lang) and Stephan Trojansky, nominated in the category Best Visual Effects for the film HEREAFTER.

EXTENDED ONLINE PREVIEW FOR GERMAN SHORT FILMS CATALOGUES The online version of the German Short Films 2011 catalogue, published by the German Short Film Association (AG Kurzfilm), has been available on the association’s website www.ag-kurzfilm.de since April 2011. Some 80 additional short films from the catalogue were added to the online preview offer. Now, international industry german films quarterly 2 · 2011

professionals have the opportunity to access almost 300 German short films from the last five catalogue editions online. Those interested in the offer can apply for a password via an online form. The preview has been established to provide a better service for programmers, festival curators and cinemas as well as journalists and various institutions. As requests from the pedagogical sectors worldwide increased during the last year, wishing to include German shorts in media education, intercultural education or language classes, an additional educational preview possibility has been added. By way of a password, teachers and media instructors can watch around 60 films online, and more films from previous years will be added.

NEW GERMAN SHORTS IN CANNES For the eighth time the German Short Film Association (AG Kurzfilm) is presenting some of the latest German short films and reports about current developments in the German short film scene in cooperation with German Films. International buyers and festival curators are provided with the opportunity to access the short films in the Short Film Corner, an additional service is the market screening that will be offered this year. Based on the Short Film Corner selection, the partners have published the 17th volume of the German Short Films DVD edition “GerMany Shorts in Cannes”. International news 10

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festival guests will furthermore have the possibility to meet and establish contacts with German short film makers at the Short Film Lounge. Another highlight of this year’s activities in Cannes is the presentation of the new Next Generation Short Tiger program. For the first time, it includes the winners of the Short Tiger Award which is awarded by the German Federal Film Board. The KurzFilmAgentur Hamburg is also releasing their new ShortFilmDVD edition “Back to Politics” in cooperation with good! movies. The program was curated by Maike Mia Hoehne, head of the Berlinale Shorts.

department at the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM), were all re-elected. Roman Paul, managing director of Razor Film, who had represented the German Producers Alliance in German Films advisory board in 2009 and 2010, resigned from the board. The newly elected advisory board will serve until 31 December 2012.

GERMAN ANIMATIONS IN ANNECY

Tony Oursler, Criminal Eye (photo courtesy of Sammlung Goetz, Munich) Alfred Hitchcock’s SPELLBOUND (photo courtesy of David O. Selznick Collection, UT Austin)

The Museum für Film und Fernsehen Berlin (11 August-29 November 2011) and the Kunsthalle Emden (16 April-17 July 2011) are dedicating an exhibit to a seldom recognized and known art form: the art of the storyboard. Both museums are presenting an outstanding selection of illustrated screenplays which display their own unique artistic style.

Supported by German Films, the German Short Film Association (AG Kurzfilm) will once again give German short animations a special platform at the International Festival of Animated Film in Annecy this year. Under the title “Germanimation”, the German Short Film Association, German Films and other partners are present with a booth at the festival’s film market MIFA for the fourth time. The MIFA is one of the biggest business venues for animated film worldwide. An additional service for industry professionals is the annual preview DVD “New German Animations” which offers an insight into the vivid scene of animated film in Germany. In cooperation with the MFG Baden-Württemberg, the Animations Department of the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy, the Festival of Animated Film Stuttgart and the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, the German Reception is another meeting point for filmmakers and industry professionals. Idyllically situated at the Lac d’Annecy, the reception provides the ideal opportunity for a relaxed meeting of animation professionals from all over the world.

The storyboards of selected films by such influential directors as Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Steven Spielberg are presented in comparison with original film sequences, as well as the works of visual artists who were involved in the aesthetics and conception of the storyboard. More information is available at www.deutschekinemathek.de.

NEW GERMAN FILMS ADVISORY BOARD The advisory board of German Films Service + Marketing GmbH was newly elected at the shareholders meeting on 14 March 2011. The shareholders elected Martin Moszkowicz as the new chairman of the advisory board. Martin Moszkowicz, executive board member with responsibilities for film and television at Constantin Film AG and a board member of the German Producers Alliance, took over from Alfred Hürmer who had been chairman of the advisory board since 1 January 2003. Prof. Dr. Klaus Schaefer, managing director of FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, was also newly elected to the advsiory board. Michael Schmid-Ospach, former managing director of Filmstiftung NRW, resigned from the advisory board. FilmFernsehFonds Bayern and Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen are shareholders of German Films and traditionally take it in turns every two years to sit on the advisory board. Sylke Gottlebe, managing director of the German Short Film Association (AG Kurzfilm), is another new member of the advisory board. The German Short Film Association has been one of German Films’ nine shareholders since 2004.

The festival awards numerous prizes in its various sections. Among the short films competing for the Annecy Cristal this year are the German short films A LOST AND FOUND BOX OF HUMAN SENSATIONS by Martin Wallner and Stefan Leuchtenberg as well as DER GROSSE BRUDER by Jesús Pérez and Elisabeth Hüttermann. The section Graduation Films features DIE KISTE by Kyra Buschor, HINTERLAND by Jacob Weyde and Jost Althoff, LOOM by Ilija Brunck, Jan Bitzer and Csaba Letay, OH HAPPY DAY by Justyna Krzyzaniak, as well as WEISS KEIN WEISS by Anna Bergmann. With ANNA BLUME by Vessela Dantcheva, GLOBULI by Stefan Eling and HOW TO RAISE THE MOON by Anja Struck, further German shorts will be screening in the Out of Competition section. Altogether, eleven short animations from Germany have been selected for screening at the festival, taking place this year from 6 – 11 June.

Peter Dinges, board member of the German Federal Film Board (FFA), Antonio Exacoustos as a representative of the Association of German Film Exporters (VDFE), and Ulrike Schauz, head of the film german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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Scene from A LOST AND FOUND BOX OF HUMAN SENSATIONS (photo © Martin Wallner/Stefan Leuchtenberg)

BETWEEN FILM & ART: STORYBOARDS FROM HITCHCOCK TO SPIELBERG

NEW PROFILE AT ASSOCIATION OF GERMAN FILM PRODUCERS (VDF)

“ALMANYA” AT THE BAVARIAN PARLIAMENT On 22 March 2011, the Bavarian Parliament, together with FilmFernsehFonds Bayern and the University of Television & Film Munich, presented the feature film ALMANYA at Munich’s Maximilianeum. Over 300 guests from the fields of politics and culture were moved and enthusiastic about the touching story of the life of three generations of a Turkish immigrant family in Germany. The panel that accompanied the film praised it for successfully addressing the topic of integration. FFF managing director Klaus Schaefer was proud to report in his opening speech of the film’s success (German Film Prize in Silver) since its world premiere in this year’s Berlinale official program and that it has already been sold in eight territories.

The Association of German Film Producers (VDF) has polished up its profile and won over new members. The VDF clearly defines itself as an association of independent, medium-sized, young feature film and television producers who are neither bound to broadcasters nor major distributors. The VDF is a central contact point, consultant and organ for the media policy and production interests of its members. As independent producers must rely on domestic partnerships and international co-productions ever more, it is the VDF’s particular interest to offer an exchange of networking, contacts, knowledge and information. For this reason, representatives of the VDF will be present at this year’s Festival de Cannes to further develop partnerships and projects with colleagues from the international film industry. Arno Ortmair

VDF is represented in numerous important committees, including with the German Federal Film Board and the SPIO, and is a shareholder of the VGF and German Films. VDF is represented by the executive board chairman Arno Ortmair and board members Peter Seitz and Alfred Hürmer. More information on VDF is available at www.filmproduzentenverband.de. VDF is also on Facebook under Verband Deutscher Filmproduzenten.

CINEMA FROM HAMBURG In the coming weeks and months, 13 films funded by the Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein will make their way to German cinemas: May 12th saw the release of Peter Timm’s latest film THE HUNT FOR HANNIBAL'S TREASURE (NFP – Marketing & Distribution) and Jakob Ziemnicki’s EASTER GOES POLISH (Zorro Film). Sandra Trostel’s music documentary UTOPIA LTD. (Rapid Eye Movies) about the young Hamburg-based punk band 1000 Robota and Dieter Schumann’s documentary WADAN'S WORLD (RealFiction) can also now be seen on Germany’s silver screens. On May 26th, German audiences will be able to see Joe Wright’s HANNA (Sony Pictures), with Cate Blanchett in the leading role. Dan Tang’s I PHONE YOU (Reverse Angle Pictures), based on a screenplay by Wolfgang Kohlhaase, will also be released May 26th. Ulrich Köhler’s SLEEPING SICKNESS (Farbfilm), winner of a Silver Bear at this year’s Berlinale, will hit local cinemas on June 23rd. One week later, Gernot Roll’s WERNER – EISKALT! (Constantin Film) will celebrate its theatrical premiere. Tran Anh Hung’s feature NORWEGIAN WOOD, based on the novel of the same name by Haruki Murakami, will be released on June 30th by Pandora Film. Daniel Espinosa’s EASY MONEY (Senator Film), part one of the gangster trilogy by the Swedish author Jens Lapidus, will be in the cinemas starting July 7th. NFP will also be releasing André Erkau’s comedic road movie ARSCHKALT on July 28th. September 8th will see the release of Radoslaw Wegrzyn’s FATHER, SON & HOLY COW by Farbfilm, and Jan Schomburg’s ABOVE US ONLY SKY (RealFiction) will be out on September 15th.

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INTERNATIONAL CO-PRODUCTIONS IN SOUTHWEST GERMANY With films like COLOR OF THE OCEAN (Südart Filmproduktion, Noirfilm, and Starhaus Filmproduktion from Germany with El Olivo Producciones from Spain) and WHORE’S GLORY (Quinte Film/ Freiburg & Lotus Film/Vienna), the MFG Filmförderung is supporting numerous new international co-productions, including AND IF WE ALL LIVED TOGETHER by Stéphane Robelin. The comedy with Jane Fonda is a production by Manny Films and Productions Cinematographiques de la Butte Montmarte in co-production with Stuttgart-born Peter Rommels’ Rommel Film and Home Run Pictures. At the 9th Rhein Co-Production Meeting, which is being organized by the MEDIA Antenne Strasbourg in cooperation with MFG Filmförderung from 7-8 July in Strasbourg, filmmakers from Germany, France, Luxembourg and Switzerland will have the opportunity to present new projects to producers, commissioning editors and financing partners.

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The cast of AND IF WE ALL LIVED TOGETHER (photo courtesy of MFG Filmförderung)

Klaus Schaefer, Yasemin Samdereli (director/screenplay), Barbara Stamm (President of the Bavarian Parliament), Nesrin Samdereli (screenplay)

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“THE CONGRESS”: ARI FOLMAN & ROBIN WRIGHT IN NRW

Ari Folman, Robin Wright, Petra Müller, Reinhard Brundig (photo © Bernd Spauke)

“A great land for filmmaking,” is director Ari Folman’s enthusiastic comment from the set of his new film THE CONGRESS about the shooting conditions and locations in North Rhine-Westphalia. Folman, who won a Golden Globe for WALTZ WITH BASHIR, was shooting his adaptation of Stanislaw Lem’s novel The Futurological Congress in March in Dortmund and Cologne. Reinhard Brundig is producing the international co-production between Germany, Israel, Poland, France, Belgium and Luxembourg with Cologne-based Pandora Film.

HAIRDRESSER by Doris Dörrie, THE DAYS TO COME by Lars Kraume, CLOSE TO YOU by Almut Getto, SINGLE BY CONTRACT by Marc Rothemund, JULIA’S DISAPPEARANCE by Christoph Schaub, NANGA PARBAT by Joseph Vilsmaier, THE POLL DIARIES by Chris Kraus, SASCHA by Dennis Todoróvic, COLOURS IN THE DARK by Sophie Heldman, THE MURDER FARM by Bettina Oberli, THE CITY BELOW by Christoph Hochhäusler, and ALMANYA by Yasemin Samdereli, hot off its premiere at the Berlinale.

10 YEARS OF THE AUDI FESTIVAL OF GERMAN FILMS IN AUSTRALIA

Klaus Krischok (Goethe-Institut Australia), actor Burghart Klaußner, Andreas Rothbauer (Beta Cinema), Hans G. Gnodtke (German Consul General), Nicole Kaufmann (German Films) (photo © Tom Koprowski)

Building on the success of last year’s festival, this year the 10th anniversary of the AUDI Festival of German Films in Australia presented an extensive program of 38 feature films and documentaries and 13 shorts in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide from 6-18 April 2011.

Eleven audience favorites from past festivals were shown in the Retro 2001-2010, including: NO PLACE TO GO by Oskar Roehler and EMMA’S BLISS by Sven Taddicken. This year’s festival showed Friedemann Fromm’s TV mini-series THE WEISSENSEE SAGA. Young audiences had lots of adventures with TIGER-TEAM by Peter Gersina and THE DEVIL’S KICKERS by Granz Henman. Five documentaries highlighting radical approaches to life could be seen in the sidebar Radical Docs, which was organized in cooperation with ZDF and ARTE. And Björn Richie Lob also traveled to Australia to present his film KEEP SURFING. The festival was then rounded off in style with the first German dance film in 3D as a premiere in the Southern hemisphere: PINA was shown in the presence of Wim Wenders as part of a gala event at the famous Sydney Opera House.

26TH GERMAN PREMIERE: “REMEMBRANCE” IN NEW YORK At the exclusive German Premieres industry screenings, producer Sven Woldt (Media Park Film & Fernsehproduktion) and world sales agent Beatrix Wesle (Atrix Films) presented the drama REMEMBRANCE (DIE VERLORENE ZEIT) by Anna Justice on 21 March 2011 at the Tribeca Cinemas in New York. New York-based screenwriter Pamela Katz and US actor David Rasche were also present. Some 50 journalists and representatives of the New York buyers’ and distributors’ community attended the event organized by German Films and its US representative Oliver Mahrdt. Sven Woldt, Beatrix Wesle, Oliver Mahrdt (photo © Atrix Films/Jürgen Runge)

Robin Wright is in the role of an actress whose body is digitalized so that she can be cast as an eternally young star in all of the studio’s productions. Other roles have been cast with Harvey Keitel, Danny Huston, Paul Giamatti, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Sami Gayle and Jon Hamm. As with his animated-documentary WALTZ WITH BASHIR, Ari Folman will integrate animated and live-action scenes into this new project. Cologne-based sales agent The Match Factory will be handling the international sales of the film.

Actor Burghart Klaußner was in attendance to present the opening film GOETHE! by Philipp Stölzl in Sydney and Brisbane as well as REQUIEM by Hans-Christian Schmid and THE SILENCE by Baran bo Odar. Ralf Huettner’s VINCENT WANTS TO SEA opened the programs in Melbourne and Perth. The tragicomedy was then released in Australian cinemas. Other German-language productions in the section German Currents included: THE DAY I WAS NOT BORN by Florian Cossen, THE DAY OF THE CAT by Wolfgang Panzer, THE german films quarterly 2 · 2011

Julia Overton (Screen Australia) & Wim Wenders at the Sydney Opera House (photo © Daniel Boud)

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On the set of FLY AWAY (photo courtesy of Neue Visionen Filmverleih)

Scene from CIRCLES (photo © Neue Mediopolis Filmproduktion/Filmhouse Bas Celik )

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BIS ZUM HORIZONT, DANN LINKS! CIRCLES Genre Comedy, Family Entertainment, Romantic Comedy Category Feature Director Bernd Böhlich Screenplay Bernd Böhlich Director of Photography Florian Foest Cast Otto Sander, Angelica Domröse, Herbert Köfer, Ralf Wolter Producers Eva-Marie Martens, Alexander Martens Co-Producers Torsten Frehse, Matthias Mücke, Frank Everts Production Company Mafilm/Berlin, in co-production with Neue Visionen Filmproduktion/Berlin, Cine Plus Filmproduktion/Berlin Original Version German Shooting Dates March-May 2011 With backing from Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Medienboard BerlinBrandenburg, German Federal Film Fund, MEDIA World Sales TELEPOOL, [email protected], www.telepool.de BIS ZUM HORIZONT, DANN LINKS! (FLY AWAY) is a romantic comedy that shows being elderly does not always have to mean getting old. The film starts when the proud and extremely attractive Annegret Simon, newly arrived in the retirement home, catches the immediate interest of Herr Tiedgen. Like him, Annegret doesn’t like the change of wallpaper: movement therapy, choir singing, reading afternoons – life couldn’t be more boring! The residents might be in their twilight years, but the light is still burning brightly. So when, one day, they are invited to take a roundtrip in a propeller driven aircraft, Tiedgen has an idea, one that will give them a new direction, you could say, and, he hopes, will impress Annegret above all. No sooner than they have lifted off than Tiedgen slips into the cockpit – to emerge shortly afterwards as the new captain! And he knows where they should be heading – the seaside. Now the leader of a popular, airborne, democratic revolution that has voted unanimously for the one thing they are supposedly no longer allowed – freedom – he and his very willing passengers want to go where the sun shines and they are in good company. The round-trip has now become a straight line breaking for the border! But you cannot simply disappear with an airplane without others noticing. While the press and police fall over one another with speculation and rescue plans, the flying pensioners keep on heading for those sunny southern climes – until they run out of fuel. SK

Genre Drama Category Feature Director Srdan Golubovic Screenplay Srdjan Koljevic, Melina Pota Koljevic Director of Photography Aleksandar Ilic Cast Vuk Kostic, Nebojsa Glogovac, Aleksandar Bercek, Leon Lucev, Geno Lechner Producers Alexander Ris, Jelena Mitrovic Co-Producers Danijel Hocevar, Boris Matic, Emilie George Production Companies Neue Mediopolis Filmproduktion/ Leipzig, Film House Bas Celik/Belgrade, in co-production with La Cinefacture/Paris, Vertigo E-Motion Film/Ljubljana, Propeler Film/ Zagreb Original Version Serbian, German Shooting Dates March-April 2011 With backing from Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Fond Sud, ARTE World Sales Memento Films International, [email protected], www.memento-films.com Inspired by an actual event which occurred during the war in Bosnia in 1993, Srdan Golubovic’s third feature, CIRCLES, is the fourth collaboration between Germany’s Neue Mediopolis Filmproduktion and Belgradebased Bas Celik after Golubovic’s previous feature THE TRAP, Damjan Kozole’s SLOVENIAN GIRL and Srdjan Koljevic’s THE WOMAN WITH A BROKEN NOSE. The film opens in Trebinje in 1993 when a Serbian soldier pays for his life after protecting a Muslim civilian from being attacked by three other soldiers. 15 years later, the consequences of this act of heroism are still having their repercussions. “CIRCLES is a film about guilt,” director Golubovic explains. “About whether it is only the ones who committed the crime who are culpable, or whether it’s also those who witnessed the crime and failed to prevent it.” Moreover, he sees this new project as “a film about repaying debts, about the need to do something good in return. As well as doing evil. About cowardice and helplessness leading to revenge. About the realization of the senselessness of revenge – and about forgiveness.” “The storyline in the past is based on real-life events, but what happens in the present is fictional,” producer Alexander Ris adds. “Part of the later story is set in Germany because one of the main characters, the man who was saved, left Bosnia and has built up a new existence in his adopted country with a German wife and children. We looked in Germany for the same kind of Socialist architecture as the kind you have in Bosnia and found it in Halle-Neustadt. Getting a feel for the life of Bosnians in Germany was not hard for Golubovic and [co-screenwriter] Srdjan Koljevic because they both have relatives in Germany and could draw on these experiences for authenticity.” “The film got a real boost when it took part in Cannes’ L’Atelier last year and won the International Relations ARTE Prize for Best Screenplay,” Ris notes, pointing out that the € 2.05 million project was supported by ZDF/ARTE and ARTE France as part of the Franco-German cultural channel’s “grand accord”. MB

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Scene from DOPPELLEBEN (photo © Douglas Wolfsperger Filmproduktion)

Director Lola Randl (photo courtesy of COIN FILM)

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DOPPELLEBEN

DIE ERFINDUNG DER LIEBE

Genre Tragicomedy Category Documentary Director Douglas Wolfsperger Screenplay Douglas Wolfsperger Director of Photog raphy René Dame Cast Susanne Knoll, Marianne Schätzle, Lothar Wunderlich Producer Douglas Wolfsperger Production Company Douglas Wolfsperger Filmproduktion/Berlin Original Version German Shooting Dates February-April 2011 With backing from Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, German Federal Film Fund Contact Douglas Wolfsperger Filmproduktion, [email protected], www.douglas-wolfsperger.de

Genre Comedy, Drama, Love Story Category Feature Director Lola Randl Screenplay Lola Randl Director of Photography Philipp Pfeiffer Cast Maria Kwiatkowsky, Bastian Trost, Sunnyi Melles Producers Herbert Schwering, Christine Kiauk Co-Producer Pol Cruchten Production Company COIN FILM/Cologne, in co-production with Red Lion/Luxembourg Original Version German Shooting Dates May-July 2011 With backing from Filmstiftung NRW, BKM, German Federal Film Fund Contact COIN FILM, info@ coin-film.de, www.coin-film.de

Would the real Angela Merkel please step forward? Is it Angela Merkel, German chancellor, European stateswoman, methodical, rational, able to doge criticism as if Teflon-coated and the mistress of crisis management, if maybe not the most imaginative of people? Or is it Susanne Knoll – who just happens to be the spitting image of Angela Merkel – Germany’s most popular Rent-An-Angie?

A young woman, Emily, who aspires to study acting but fails to get accepted, has a crazy plan. She wants her boyfriend Daniel to marry a terminally ill, very wealthy, businesswoman, Amine, in order to inherit her fortune. But things take a different turn when the young man appears to really fall in love with the dying woman. As Amine’s condition takes a surprising turn for the better, she expresses the desire to have a child. But in her weakened condition that’s impossible, so Emily comes up with another idea.

Knoll, who also cares for her terminally ill parents, films commercials, makes personal appearances and has the goal of looking as Angela-like as the real thing! But here they separate, because Knoll is an active and selfaware Social Democrat politician, determinedly active for her constituents. And if two Angela Merkels aren’t enough, there’s Marianne Schätzle, Knoll’s greatest rival (apart from the real Angela Merkel, that is!). She might need help to achieve the external appearance, but close your eyes and Schätzle’s voice and speech patterns are identical. With her love of provocation, Schätzle’s Merkel treads where the real one would fear to go. In supporting roles there are Lothar Wunderlich, manager of a travel agency in Leipzig and the active double of Bill Clinton – once in character he’s a real ladies man! – and Kurt Schmidt, an East German pensioner who waves the flag for the GDR’s most famous socialist, Erich Honecker. 90year-old Schmidt, who starts his shows rising from a coffin, not only looks like the very dead former leader, but praises the triumphs of Socialism in the same nasal accent to enthusiastic audiences. Director Douglas Wolfsperger’s signature is his eye for the unusual, sometimes reflective but constantly entertaining. Once again he crosses the line between documentary and feature film, as DOPPELLEBEN shows the life of a Doppelgänger has something of a double life of its own and can even be more amusing than that of the original. SK

DIE ERFINDUNG DER LIEBE (“The Invention of Love”), writer-director Lola Randl’s third production with COIN FILM, is an over-exaggerated love story that uses ironic sub-tones and a great deal of black humor to pose the questions, what happens when a crazy idea becomes reality and what does it take to be happy in life, and love? “My film,” says Randl, ”is anchored in today’s ’Crisis’ or ’Intern Generation’. What are this generation’s perspectives and wishes as they want to get started on their professional lives but first have to sit on the bench, waiting?” Randl also tackles such questions as morality and the willingness to commit in a time in which politics and everyday life is marked by corruption and lethargy. "How do young people handle love, friendship and betrayal when on the one hand there are the non-binding quasi-social networks and singles dating sites, on the other it is again modern to get engaged and marry?" "At first glance," says producer Herbert Schwering, “you can take DIE ERFINDUNG DER LIEBE as a simple story, but the characters’ complexity quickly makes it clear: life is a game in itself. There are many solutions, no single ’true’ or ’false’.” DIE ERFINDUNG DER LIEBE shows that in the end there is no one general answer that fits everyone. We are responsible for our own happiness. SK

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Scene from GNADE (photo courtesy of Knudsen & Streuber Medienmanufaktur)

Producer Heino Deckert & director Sergei Loznitsa (photo courtesy of ma.ja.de.)

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GNADE

IM NEBEL

Genre Drama Category Feature Director Matthias Glasner Screenplay Kim Fupz Aakeson Director of Photography Jakub Bejnarowicz Cast Jürgen Vogel, Birgit Minichmayr, Henry Stange, Ane Dahl Torp, Stig Henrik Hoff, Iren Reppen, Maria Bock, Bjørn Sundquist Producers Kristine Knudsen, Matthias Glasner, Andreas Born, CoProducer Aage Aaberge Production Companies Schwarzweiss Film/Berlin, Knudsen & Streuber Medienmanufaktur/Berlin, Ophir Film/Berlin, in co-production Neofilm/Oslo, in co-operation with ZDF/ Mainz, ARTE/Strasbourg Original Version German, Norwegian, English Shooting Dates January-March 2011 With backing from Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, BKM, German Federal Film Fund, Norwegian Film Institute Contact Knudsen & Streuber Medienmanufaktur, [email protected], www.knudsenstreuber.com GNADE (“Mercy”) is a tale of karma and the need for catharsis. Nils, Maria and son Markus leave Germany for Norway to give their life new impetus. They find work in Hammerfest, the world’s most northerly city, but soon the initial kick of adventure has gone and old patterns creep back in. Nils has a new lover and Maria, a nurse, sacrifices herself for her terminally ill patients and closes her eyes to her family’s collapse. Young Markus is unable to find common ground with the local children. One evening as Maria is on her way home from work, everything changes. She runs over something, most likely an animal. Scared, she drives on: a mistake. It wasn’t an animal but a drunk teenage girl, whose body is found the next day. Because there are no witnesses to the accident, Maria and Nils decide to say nothing. The girl would still be dead one way or the other. But the guilt and fear of being found out cause the family to question their view of the world as seen in their new environment. The secret brings Nils and Maria, who were threatening to split apart, tightly together. In a marriage that has grown estranged, new and unknown feelings are released; maybe even a new love. From an apparently reprehensible decision arise new, positive energies. But Nils’ conscience continues to gnaw at him as he keeps on encountering the dead girl’s parents in the small town. Nils drives more and more often to the scene of the accident, sits and observes the wreaths and the notes of condolence. When the girl’s mother thanks him for his sympathies Nils realizes that he can no longer keep the guilt, which he and Maria have assumed, to himself and has to appeal for mercy …

Genre Drama Category Feature Director Sergei Loznitsa Screenplay Sergei Loznitsa, from the novel by Vassil Byaku Director of Photography Oleg Mutu Producer Heino Deckert CoProducers Anna Wydra, Rasa Miskinyte, Vilnis Kalnaellis Production Company ma.ja.de. fiction/Leipzig, in co-production Otter Film/Poland, Era Films/Lithuania, Rija Films/Latvia Original Version Russian Shooting Dates October-November 2011 With backing from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MEDIA, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Ministry of Culture Lithuania Contact ma.ja.de. fiction, [email protected], www.majade.de IM NEBEL (“In The Fog”) is set in wartime Belarus. It is 1942 and the Nazi occupation is at its height. The war rages in the German rear, too, with partisans attacking the occupiers from their forest hideouts. They attack German-occupied villages, blow up military transports, exact revenge on traitors and collaborators. A train is blown up close to the home of railway worker Suschenja. Although uninvolved, he is arrested along with the saboteurs. The German investigating officer has the partisans executed, whereas Suschenja is set free – as punishment for his refusal to collaborate! The message to the partisans is clear: Suschenja is a traitor and must be liquidated. Two partisans, Burov and Wojtik travel to Suschenja’s farm to avenge their dead comrades. Agreeing not to kill him in front of his wife and child, the partisans lead their victim into the forest. But on the way they are ambushed. Suschenja and his would-be executor Burov, now seriously wounded, are left alone. Suschenja now hopes for salvation. He believes he can maybe convince the partisans of his innocence if he can only bring the heavily wounded Burov to their camp. In the loneliness of the swampy forest, where the line between treason and heroism, friend and foe, war and peace is so very slim, so very removed from immediate understanding, Suschenja, a victim of adverse circumstances, fights for his right to live. IM NEBEL is written and directed by the award-winning documentary and feature filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa, whose very many trophies now include the Silver Apricot 2010 (Best Feature Film category, Golden Apricot Film Festival, Yerevan) and the Golden Award (Minsk, 2010), both for MY JOY, which screened in competition at Cannes 2010, to name but two. SK

SK

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Scene from INVASION (photo © Tom Trambow)

Scene from KLAPPE COWBOY! (photo © Prophetfilms)

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INVASION

KLAPPE COWBOY!

Genre Psycho Thriller, Thriller Category Feature Director Dito Tsintsadze Screenplay Dito Tsintsadze Director of Photography Ralf Mendle Cast Burghart Klaußner, Heike Trinker, Merab Ninidze, David Imper Producers Thanassis Karathanos, Karl Baumgartner CoProducers Ebba Sinzinger, Vincent Lucassen Production Companies Pallas Film/Halle, Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion/ Berlin, in co-production with WILDart FILM/Vienna Original Version German Shooting Dates December 2010-February 2011 With backing from Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Filmstiftung NRW, BKM, German Federal Film Fund, Wiener Filmfonds Contact Pallas Film, [email protected], www.pallasfilm.de The Georgian-born director Dito Tsintzadse returned to Central Germany for his latest feature INVASION after having made the San Sebastian Golden Shell-winner GUN-SHY (SCHUSSANGST) in 2003 in and around Halle. At the center of the new film is a lonely man Josef (played by Burghart Klaußner) whose very existence gradually becomes more threatened. He has only recently become a widower when two unexpected visitors suddenly turn up: a woman named Nina, who claims to be a friend of his late wife, and her son Simon. Josef is then invited to Simon’s Kendo tournament where he meets Simon’s wife Milena. But after only a short time, Nina asks Josef if the young couple could live at his place for a while. As time goes on, Nina is at Josef ’s more often than not, and it doesn’t stop there: her boyfriend and Milena’s son Marco then take up residence. Although he had been initially pleased to have some company to take his mind off of his recent loss, these new sub-tenants become increasingly threatening in the way they force their way into his life ... and lead to violent consequences. Tsintsadze describes his new film as “a whimsical thriller with black humor and completely unexpected twists” and draws comparisons with such classics as Alfred Hitchcock’s REAR WINDOW and Roman Polanski’s THE TENANT. INVASION is the second film by Tsintsadze where Burghart Klaußner (THE WHITE RIBBON and GOETHE!) has been cast in the male lead: he had previously appeared in the Georgian director’s 2006 film THE MAN FROM THE EMBASSY and was awarded a Silver Leopard in Locarno for his portrayal of a German diplomat in Georgia. After an initial five days of shooting in the Cologne area last December, the German-Austrian co-production moved to Saalfeld in Thuringia for 28 days between January and February at the Villa Bergfried, which was built in the 1920s by the chocolate manufacturer Ernst Hüther. Theatrical release by Neue Visionen is planned in Germany in 2012.

Genre Comedy Category Feature Directors Timo Jacobs, Ulf Behrens Screenplay Federico Avino Director of Photography Ulf Behrens Cast Timo Jacobs, Yps van Tule, Peter Koskowski, David Bredin, Adrian Dittus, Iris Sommerlatte, Tibor Taylor, Terri Laird, Kristian Wanzl Producer Timo Jacobs Production Company Prophetfilms/Berlin Original Version German Shooting Dates August 2009-October 2010 Contact Pegasus Agency, [email protected], www.pegasus-agency.de, klappecowboy.de, www.timojacobs.com The ups and downs of low-budget indie filmmaking are the focus of actor Timo Jacobs’ feature directorial debut KLAPPE COWBOY! which is currently in post-production after shooting in Berlin over the course of a year from August 2009 to October 2010. Jacobs, whose appearances in front of the camera as an actor have included roles in Giorgio Diritti’s THE MAN WHO WILL COME, Olivier Assayas’ CARLOS, the collaborative project DREILEBEN, and GEGENGERADE, had previously directed the short 84 in 2007 as an entry to a 48hour film challenge. “I had shot five feature films with Klaus Lemke and was inspired by his approach to shooting,” Jacobs explains. “We had also worked together on the screenplays, so I got an insight into the filmmaking process. I had various ideas for KLAPPE COWBOY! and then brought a screenwriter friend, Federico Avino, onboard to bring everything into a narrative form. It was like having a puzzle and getting all the pieces together.” The film, which has been financed out of Jacobs’ own pocket and via deferrals from cast and crew, centers on the self-proclaimed directing talent Cowboy who comes to Berlin with the goal of finally making that great movie. Brimming with confidence, he takes every job that’s going, but this all ends in total chaos. Cowboy happens to know the artist YPS and shooting an art-porn flick with her stirs up an artistic hornets’ nest which far exceeds his amateurish qualities. “The film lives from the comic situations and the flow,” Jacobs observes. “I told the actors the basic set-up for each scene, but didn’t give them so much information so that the camera could move around freely and react to the actors. Naturally, there were surprises which are genuine and not staged. That’s what will make the film so charming.” Moreover, it will be fascinating to see how Jacobs’ eclectic personal taste in films – from Harmony Korine’s GUMMO and Vincent Gallo’s BUFFALO 66 through Thomas Vinterberg’s DEAR WENDY to the Marx Brothers and Peter Sellers – will rub off on KLAPPE COWBOY! MB

MB german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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Scene from RUBBELDIEKATZ (photo © Film1/Anne Wilk)

Wladimir Kaminer, Matthias Schweighöfer (photo © Black Forest Films/Stephan Rabold)

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RUBBELDIEKATZ

RUSSENDISKO

Genre Comedy, Romantic Comedy Category Feature Director Detlev Buck Screenplay Anika Decker, Detlev Buck Director of Photography Marc Achenbach Cast Matthias Schweighöfer, Alexandra Maria Lara, Detlev Buck, Maximilian Brückner, Denis Moschitto, Max von Thun Producers Henning Ferber, Marcus Welke CoProducers Claus Boje, Detlev Buck Production Companies Film 1/Berlin, Universal Pictures Germany/Hamburg, Boje Buck Produktion/Berlin Original Version German Shooting Dates January-February 2011 With backing from Medienboard BerlinBrandenburg, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, German Federal Film Board, German Federal Film Fund Contact Film 1, [email protected], www.film1.de RUBBELDIEKATZ, which translates as “Hey Presto!” or “Bada Bing Bada Boom!”, or whatever term you prefer for when something is suddenly revealed, is another candidate in the immensely popular gender-bender genre, following in the footsteps of such films as SOME LIKE IT HOT and TOOTSIE. Here, unemployed actor Alexander (Matthias Schweighöfer) who says a job is a job, changes into Alexandra, knocks the competition for six and actually lands a female role in a big Hollywood film! But can he keep up the act in a padded bra and high heels long-term? Better than he would like! Alex’s colleague starts to get wandering hands syndrome, and the director also finds him irresistible. His ex-girlfriend flips out and his two rambunctious brothers and their lunatic pal just make the film set an even more dangerous place. Alex would like nothing more than to hang up his wig, but it’s much too late for that since he’s fallen madly in love with his acting partner, superstar Sarah Voss (Alexandra Maria Lara). Is Alex woman enough to be his own man? Featuring a top notch cast, RUBBELDIEKATZ is a charming romantic comedy with a good pinch of typical Detlev Buck humor. The film has already been acquired for local distribution by Universal Pictures International and is scheduled for a winter 2011/2012 release. SK

Genre Comedy Category Feature Director Oliver Ziegenbalg Screenplay Oliver Ziegenbalg Director of Photog raphy Tetsuo Nagata Cast Matthias Schweighöfer, Friedrich Mücke, Christian Friedel, Peri Baumeister, Susanne Bormann, Pheline Roggan, Rainer Bock, Imogen Kogge Producers Christoph Hahnheiser, Arthur Cohn Co-Producer Stefan Gärtner Production Company Black Forest Films/Berlin, in co-production with SevenPictures Film/Berlin Original Version German Shooting Dates March-May 2011 With backing from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, German Federal Film Fund, German Federal Film Board, MEDIA Contact Black Forest Films, [email protected], www.black-forest-films.de In 2002, producer Christoph Hahnheiser had just moved to Berlin when two friends gave him Wladimir Kaminer’s bestseller Russendisko as a way of introducing him to life in the big city. “In the early 90s, it was a city which was probably one of the most exciting places in the world and a time when the events in Berlin played an important role, both for Germany and the world, and made the capital into an international metropolis which attracts people from all around the world,” Hahnheiser recalls. “Everything changed extremely rapidly in Berlin after the fall of the Wall and this exciting and wonderful world is described by Kaminer with his own particular humor.” At the same time, he notes that it was “a challenge to transfer the 52 stories from the book into a film story that would present the magic of a modern city fairytale.” After nine years of development and 10 screenwriters, production began in mid-March and wrapped at the end of May on an adaptation by Oliver Ziegenbalg whose previous credits include FRIENDSHIP! and 1½ RITTER. The ’fish out of water’ comedy follows the adventures of Wladimir and his two friends, Mischa and Andrej, three young men from Moscow who come to Berlin in a lucky wave of emigration right after the fall of the Berlin Wall. They take their chance looking for a better life and encounter all of the strangeness of a new world and Berlin with the spirit of the early 90s. “Originally, we thought it would be more of a studio-based film,” Hahnheiser explains. “But, in fact, we are mostly on location and even have Berlin-Gropiusstadt standing in for part of Moscow!” “At the same time, Oliver’s screenplay made it clear that the film would be a modern city fairytale where Wladimir’s world is both larger than life and romanticized. We wanted to keep this particular aesthetic in both the film’s camerawork and production design, and the DoP Tetsuo Nagata and production designer Christian M. Goldbeck are the right people to create that special kind of poetry on screen.” MB

german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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Team of SECHSTER SINN (photo © Ben Brix)

Scene from SUSHI IN SUHL (photo © StarCrest Media/Movienet)

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SECHSTER SINN …

SUSHI IN SUHL

Genre Action/Adventure, Animation, Art, Comedy, Experimental, Drama, Fantasy/Science Fiction Category Short Director Jan Riesenbeck Screenplay Jan Riesenbeck Director of Photography Ben Brix Cast Ruben Zumstrull, Anna Fischer, Johann Adam Oest Producer Roland Fischer Production Company Ocean Pictures Filmproduktion/Memmingen, in co-production with Kunsthochschule Kassel Original Version German, English Shooting Dates December 2010-August 2011 With backing from Hessische Filmförderung, BKM, ZDF/ARTE Contact Ocean Pictures Filmproduktion, [email protected], www.oceanpictures-film.de

Genre Comedy Category Feature Director Carsten Fiebeler Screenplay Jens-Frederik Otto Director of Photography Gero Steffen Cast Uwe Steimle, Julia Richter, Leander Wilhelm, Angelika Böttiger, Gen Seto, Ina Paule Klink, Michael Kind, Thorsten Merten Producers Carl Schmitt, Birger Laube Production Company StarCrest Media/Frankfurt, in co-production with MDR/Leipzig Original Version German Shooting Dates January-April 2011 With backing from Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, German Federal Film Fund, HessenInvestFilm Contact StarCrest Media, [email protected], www.starcrest.de

Shooting has been underway since last autumn at locations in Kassel, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Osnabrück and surroundings on the 25-minute short project SECHSTER SINN, DRITTES AUGE, ZWEITES GESICHT (“Sixth Sense, Third Eye, Second Face”) which is being directed by Jan Riesenbeck, a student at the Kunsthochschule Kassel since 2007.

Rolf Anschütz, the passionate cook and restaurateur who realized his dream of a Japanese restaurant, the Waffenschmied, in the former GDR against all kinds of resistance, provided the inspiration for Carsten Fiebeler’s latest feature film SUSHI IN SUHL.

SECHSTER SINN centers on a blind man who sees the world through the eyes of other people. The images he sees no longer have anything to do with the kind of life he is now leading. Looking for his own perspective, he is helped by an opthalmologist who is also a philosopher and magician and undertakes a journey with him into his childhood, and then by a woman painter of the invisible who succeeds in using his memories to build a mirror in which he can recognize himself. The film, which is described as “a unique mixture of fairytale, comedy, science fiction, essay and drama” sees Riesenbeck working again with actor Ruben Zumstrull who has appeared in many of the director’s previous films. Most recently, he was a modern Charlie Chaplin in Riesenbeck’s KOPFGEBURTENKONTROLLE which won more than 20 prizes, including the German Young Filmmakers Award in 2009. They collaborated in the new film on the development of the character for the blind man, and the project has been accompanied by Oscar®-winning visual effects wizard Volker Engel (INDEPENDENCE DAY) serving as a mentor as part of the Young Filmmakers Award. According to the makers, the film will offer a mélange of associations as up to 700 different film scenes are brought together along with almost one hundred different speaking roles: “Fast editing, visual games and linguistic wit will determine the narrative style. As in a puzzle, the numerous ideas will come together to form one big image.” Broadcast rights have already been sold to ZDF/ARTE for airing on one of ARTE’s short film slots, and there are plans for a theatrical release. MB

german films quarterly 2 · 2011

Dresden-born actor Uwe Steimle portrays Anschütz whose culinary skills gained a reputation far beyond the GDR’s borders and eventually led him to being officially invited to Japan, the land of his dreams, where he was accorded the highest of honors. Producer Carl Schmitt of Frankfurt-based StarCrest Media describes the film as “a comedy with tragic moments – like GOOD BYE, LENIN!. The film is about a person who by chance sets a mechanism in movement that he himself could no longer stop and not always control.” On the one hand, Anschütz was “a person who never lost his courage to face life, could always find something positive from every defeat and stood by what he did,” Schmitt notes. But he was also “a tragic figure who paid for his professional success with the breakup of his family.” “SUSHI IN SUHL is based on a real story which nobody who is familiar with the GDR system would believe,” Schmitt adds. “But, in the end, more than 2 million guests visited the Waffenschmied and you had to make a reservation two years in advance.” “Rolf Anschütz wasn’t the ‘3/4 Japanese’ he liked to think he was,” the producer continues. “When he was at the peak of his success and could at last travel to the land whose culture he had been promoting to his fellow-countrymen in the GDR, he came to realize that the land of his dreams was really back home. He could have never lived in Japan.” Sadly, the real-life Rolf Anschütz will not be able to see the finished film when it is released by Movienet at the beginning of 2012 – he passed away at the age of 75 in 2008. Moreover, the original restaurant no longer exists, so the film team created their version in another restaurant, Wilhelmsburg, which had been standing empty for the past 15 years, in the Thuringian village of Schmalkalden. MB

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Scene from VOICE – SCULPTING SOUND WITH MAJA RATKJE (photo © Kai Miedendorp)

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VOICE – SCULPTING SOUND WITH MAJA RATKJE Genre Art, Biopic, Music, Road Movie Category Documentary Director Ingo J. Biermann Screenplay Ingo J. Biermann Director of Photography Kai Miedendorp Cast Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje, Frode Haltli, Spunk, Kathy Hinde, Trondheim Sinfonietta, Garth Knox, Arve Henriksen, Sylvie Courvoisier, Ikue Mori Producer Andreas Louis Co-Producers Solveig Arnesen, Ingo J. Biermann Production Company Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (dffb), in co-production with Genesis Film/Hausgesund, IJB/Berlin Original Version English, Norwegian Shooting Dates March 2010-Summer 2011 With backing from German Federal Film Board, Filmkraft Rogaland Contact IJB, [email protected], www.ijbiermann.com The Norwegian composer and performer Maja Ratkje is the subject of a feature documentary currently being made by Berlin-based filmmaker Ingo J. Biermann who studied at the German Film & Television Academy (dffb) in Berlin until last year. Although Biermann doesn’t himself play a musical instrument, he recalls that, from the beginning of his career, he has always regarded filmmaking as “a musical craft and film as being comparable with a musical composition.” VOICE – SCULPTING SOUND WITH MAJA RATKJE is not only a portrait of the singular musician and singer, but also explores the sound and nature of the human voice in all its facets.

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The film accompanies Ratkje as she composes and improvises in various constellations, in the studio, for example, while recording the next album of her quartet Spunk and new CDs of her compositions, which are being produced for Rune Grammofon and for John Zorn’s famous Tzadik record label. There will also be footage from concerts such as Passing Images in Bruges or with the trio Poing in Oslo. In addition, Biermann wants to give an insight into the work Ratkje does on her own back home in Norway, as well as including family moments with her two small children. Citing directors Thomas Riedelsheimer and Claire Denis as inspirational for the making of this film, Biermann explains that he is aiming to make “a sensual film, with images for the big screen. Images one can dive into. A film about this woman, her overwhelming creative spirit and her passion which appeals and touches us all. A sensual and unexpected journey into the world of voices and sounds with the complex means of cinema.”

For further information, please contact: [email protected]

Apart from VOICE and NOCTURNE, Biermann is also currently working on a third documentary, ZEHN FRAUEN, which portrays ten women artists. MB

german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S21_Anz_NGST.qxp:Layout 1 27.04.11 11:33 Seite 1

2011

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S22_4TageImMai.qxp:Unter Strom 27.04.11 11:40 Seite 1

4 TAGE IM MAI Scene from 4 DAYS IN MAY (photo © X Filme)

4 DAYS IN MAY

4 DAYS IN MAY tells the story of a Soviet captain and a young 13-year-old German boy in the final days of WWII. The two meet as enemies, but there is something that unites them: the war has claimed the lives of both the captain’s son and the boy’s father. These four days in May, during which time the world holds its breath; four days, which will change the 13-year-old forever. The boy wants to be a soldier and prove himself a hero, but instead, he ends up in the captivity of the captain and his 7-man reconnaissance patrol. They take up their observation post in the orphanage on the coast where the young boy lives. Weary from fighting and in an attempt to avoid any further conflict with German troops on a nearby beach, the captain and his men are all waiting for an end of the war – and start dreaming of life again. But the boy tries to instigate the hostile troops against each other. What he doesn’t suspect, however, is that the real enemy comes from an unexpected side: a Russian major, who has long had it in for the captain. Now the war, which almost seemed to finally be over, moves into the orphanage for one last battle; one which turns brothers into enemies and enemies into brothers. The end of the war is the end of childhood. A film by Achim von Borries, based on a true story.

Genre Drama, History Category Feature Year of Production 2011 Director Achim von Borries Screenplay Achim von Borries Director of Photography Bernd Fischer Cast Pavel Wenzel, Aleksei Guskov, Grigory Dobrygin, Ivan Shvedoff, Sergey Legostaev, Andrey Merzlikin, Maksim Kovalevski, Jevgenij Sitochin, Vladimir Svirskiy, Gertrud Roll, Angelina Häntsch, Petra Kelling, Merab Ninidze, Alexander Held, Martin Brambach Producers Stefan Arndt, Aleksei Guskov Co-Producer Oleg Stepanenko Production Company X Filme Creative Pool/Berlin, in co-production with ZAO Studio F.A.F./Moscow, LCC Aurora Production/Kiev, HR/Frankfurt, ARTE/Strasbourg, NDR/Hamburg Length 90 min Format 35 mm, color, cs Original Version German, Russian Subtitled Version English With backing from German Federal Film Fund, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Medienboard BerlinBrandenburg, German Federal Film Board, Landesförderinstitut Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, MEDIA, Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, State Cinematography Office Ukraine Achim von Borries was born in Munich in 1968. He studied History, Political Science and Philosophy in Berlin, followed by studies at the German Film & Television Academy (dffb) in Berlin. Active as a writer and director, he has directed ENGLAND! (2000), LOVE IN THOUGHTS (2004), and 4 DAYS IN MAY (2011). He collaborated on the screenplays to such films as GOOD BYE, LENIN!, THE THREE ROBBERS, MEIN SOMMER MIT MOLOMOK, LILLY THE WITCH – THE JOURNEY TO MANDOLAN, and KARL MAY – PHANTAST.

World Sales The Match Factory GmbH · Michael Weber Balthasarstr. 79-81 · 50670 Cologne/Germany phone +49-2 21-5 39 70 90 · fax +49-2 21-5 39 70 910 [email protected] · www.the-match-factory.com german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S23_BABA.qxp:Unter Strom 27.04.11 11:41 Seite 1

Scene from BABA (photo © George Inci)

BABA

An old musician tells the story of his life through his music. His mother gives birth to twins in a time of great hunger. As she hasn’t got enough milk for both babies, she has to decide which one she will give the chance to survive. But she doesn't want to make a decision. She gives her milk to the healthier one and tries to find other solutions for the thinner brother. But in the end, the thinner baby is the one who survives. BABA looks behind the faces of “strangers” in our society. Who are these people? Where do they come from? The film is based on the true story of the filmmaker's father.

Genre Drama Category Feature Year of Production 2010 Director George Inci Screenplay George Inci Director of Photography George Inci Cast Beatrice von Moreau, George Inci Producers George Inci, Beatrice von Moreau Production Company Inci-Pictures Filmproduction/Berlin Length 63 min Format Mini DV, color, 16:9 Original Version no dialogue George Inci has been working as an actor since 1992 with such filmmakers as Wim Wenders, Sigi Rothemund, Bernd Böhlich, Carlo Rola and Vadim Glowna. He had a role in AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS with Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger. His films as a director include: the shorts THERAPIE (2003), DEUTSCHMOND (2006), LA PALOMA (2007), DIE BRANDNER (2007), ELISABETH (2007), DAS HAUS AM SEE (2007), WETTEN?! (2008), the thriller BASIM (2010), and the drama BABA (2010).

World Sales Inci-Pictures Filmproduction Alt-Moabit 55c · 10555 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-3 92 75 06 [email protected] · www.inci-pictures.com german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S24_DREILEBEN_1.qxp:Unter Strom 12.04.11 11:11 Seite 1

DREILEBEN – EINE MINUTE DUNKEL Scene from DREILEBEN – ONE MINUTE OF DARKNESS (photo © Reinhold Vorschneider)

DREILEBEN – ONE MINUTE OF DARKNESS

In the summer of 2006, film directors Dominik Graf, Christian Petzold and Christoph Hochhäusler began corresponding with each other on the subjects of film aesthetics, the Berlin School, Germany and the film genre (their correspondence was published in German film magazine Revolver). Two years later they decided to continue this theoretical discussion with a joint film project: three individual stories revolving around the same “fait divers”: the escape of a convicted criminal from police custody. Three films, three styles, three exciting approaches, variations, analyses. In DREILEBEN – ONE MINUTE OF DARKNESS Frank Molesch, convicted of murder, takes advantage of an opportunity to flee. He hides out in a forest. But the isolation and the knowledge he’s being hunted by police change him, and fear starts to get to him. The police use everything they’ve got to try to find him – but it’s a detective on sick leave who gets closest to the truth.

Genre Drama Category Feature Year of Production 2011 Director Christoph Hochhäusler Screenplay Christoph Hochhäusler, Peer Klehmet Director of Photography Reinhold Vorschneider Cast Stefan Kurt, Eberhard Kirchberg, Imogen Kogge, Timo Jacobs, Joan Pascu, Holger Doellmann, Paraschiva Dragus Producer Bettina Brokemper Co-Producers Frank Tönsmann, Gebhard Henke, Bettina Reitz, Jörn Klamroth Production Company Heimatfilm/Cologne for WDR/Cologne Length 90 min Format DCP, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German Subtitled Version English Festivals Berlin 2011 Christoph Hochhäusler was born in 1972 in Munich. He studied Architecture in Berlin from 1993-1995, followed by studies at the University of Television & Film in Munich from 1996-2002. He is also the founder and co-publisher of the film magazine Revolver. His films include: FIRST AID (ERSTE HILFE, 1995), NIGHT SHADOWS (NACHTSSCHATTEN, 1996), FEVER (FIEBER, 1999), FLIRT (2000), PULSE (PULS, 2001), THIS VERY MOMENT (MILCHWALD, 2003), LOW PROFILE (FALSCHER BEKENNER, 2005), the episode SÉANCE from GERMANY 09, THE CITY BELOW (UNTER DIR DIE STADT, 2010), and DREILEBEN – ONE MINUTE OF DARKNESS (DREILEBEN – EINE MINUTE DUNKEL).

World Sales Bavaria Film International · Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH · Thorsten Ritter Bavariafilmplatz 7 · 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20 [email protected] · www.bavaria-film-international.com german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S25_DREILEBEN_2.qxp:Unter Strom 27.04.11 11:44 Seite 1

DREILEBEN – ETWAS BESSERES ALS DEN TOD Scene from DREILEBEN – BEATS BEING DEAD (photo © BR/Hans Fromm)

DREILEBEN – BEATS BEING DEAD

A big hospital on the outskirts of a small city in the middle of the Thuringian Forest. Here Johannes carries out his alternative national service. The head physician, a family friend, has recruited him. Johannes gets to know Ana. During the night of their first embrace, a sex offender escapes from the hospital. His flight and the police’s hectic search accompany the story of Johannes and Ana – a love story transcending boundaries, without a future. DREILEBEN – BEATS BEING DEAD is part of a joint film project with fellow German directors Dominik Graf and Christoph Hochhäusler.

Genre Drama Category Feature Year of Production 2011 Director Christian Petzold Screenplay Christian Petzold Director of Photography Hans Fromm Cast Jacob Matschenz, Luna Zimic Mijovic Producers Florian Koerner von Gustorf, Michael Weber Co-Producers Frank Tönsmann, Gebhard Henke, Bettina Reitz, Jörn Klamroth Production Company Schramm Film Koerner & Weber/Berlin for BR/Munich Length 88 min Format DCP, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German Subtitled Version English Festivals Berlin 2011 Christian Petzold was born in Hilden in 1960 and has lived in Berlin since 1981. He studied German Language and Literature before studying at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb) from 1988 to 1994. His highly-acclaimed films include: PILOTINNEN (1995), CUBA LIBRE (1996), DIE BLEISCHLAFDIEBIN (1998), THE STATE I AM IN (DIE INNERE SICHERHEIT, 2000), SOMETHING TO REMIND ME (TOTER MANN, 2001), WOLFSBURG (2002), GHOSTS (GESPENSTER, 2004), YELLA (2006), JERICHOW (2008), and DREILEBEN – BEATS BEING DEAD (DREILEBEN – ETWAS BESSERES ALS DEN TOD, 2011).

World Sales Bavaria Film International · Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH · Thorsten Ritter Bavariafilmplatz 7 · 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20 [email protected] · www.bavaria-film-international.com german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S26_DREILEBEN_3.qxp:Unter Strom 27.04.11 11:49 Seite 1

DREILEBEN – KOMM MIR NICHT NACH Scene from DREILEBEN – DON’T FOLLOW ME AROUND (photo © ARD Degeto)

DREILEBEN – DON’T FOLLOW ME AROUND

Somewhere in the Thuringian Forest – a mythical region full of legends and superstition – a sex offender roams. Police psychologist Johanna is dispatched to Thuringia. She stays with her friend Vera and Vera’s husband Bruno, who have lived in this region for some time now. Old stories and old feelings surface. The two women come to realize that, ten years ago in Munich, they were both in love with the same man at the same time, without ever encountering each other. DREILEBEN – DON’T FOLLOW ME AROUND is part of a joint film project with fellow German directors Christian Petzold and Christoph Hochhäusler. Genre Drama Category Feature Year of Production 2011 Director Dominik Graf Screenplay Markus Busch, Dominik Graf Director of Photography Michael Wiesweg Cast Jeanette Hain, Susanne Wolff, Misel Maticevic, Lisa Kreuzer, Rüdiger Vogler Producers Andreas Bareiss, Gloria Burkert, Sven Burgemeister Co-Producers Frank Tönsmann, Gebhard Henke, Bettina Reitz, Jörn Klamroth Production Companies A BurkertBareiss/Munich production by TV60Film/Munich for DEGETO/Frankfurt Length 88 min Format DCP, color, 16:9 Original Version German Subtitled Version English Festivals Berlin 2011

Dominik Graf was born in 1952 in Munich. After initially studying German and Musical Sciences, he studied at the University of Television & Film in Munich in 1974. He received the Bavarian Film Award for his graduation film DER KOSTBARE GAST (1979). He has played a decisive role in developing the profile of the TV series DER FAHNDER and has alternated regularly between film and TV productions. In 1988, he received a German Film Award for his thriller DIE KATZE (1987). His film SPIELER (1990) was shown at Venice in 1990. His other films include: TIGER, LÖWE, PANTHER (1988), THE INVINCIBLES (DIE SIEGER, 1994), FRAU BU LACHT (TV, 1995), THE SCORPION (DER SKORPION, 1996), DR. KNOCK (1996), DEINE BESTEN JAHRE (TV, 1998), BITTERE UNSCHULD (1999), SPERLING UND DER BRENNENDE ARM (TV, 1997), the documentary MUNICH – SECRETS OF A CITY (MÜNCHEN – GEHEIMNISSE EINER STADT, 2000), A MAP OF THE HEART (DER FELSEN, 2001), DIE FREUNDE DER FREUNDE (TV, 2002), HOTTE IM PARADIES (TV, 2002), THE RED COCKATOO (DER ROTE KAKADU, 2005), EINE STADT WIRD ERPRESST (2006), DER WEG, DEN WIR NICHT ZUSAMMEN GEHEN (2008) from GERMANY 09, IN THE FACE OF CRIME (IN ANGESICHT DES VERBRECHENS, 2010), and DREILEBEN – DON’T FOLLOW ME AROUND (DREILEBEN – KOMM MIR NICHT NACH, 2011).

World Sales Bavaria Film International · Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH · Thorsten Ritter Bavariafilmplatz 7 · 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20 [email protected] · www.bavaria-film-international.com german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S27_DieFarbeDesOzeans.qxp:Unter Strom 27.04.11 12:03 Seite 1

DIE FARBE DES OZEANS Scene from COLOR OF THE OCEAN (photo © Pere Pueyo)

COLOR OF THE OCEAN

Canary Island cop José has become callous and cynical. As a border patrolman, he has to decide the fate of hundreds of African boat people that wash ashore on the Spanish island paradise. When German tourist Nathalie witnesses the arrival of a boatload of refugees and starts helping out on the spot, the lives of José, Nathalie and Congolese Zola, one of the few survivors with his son Mamadou, become fatefully intertwined. Over the objections of her husband Paul, Nathalie helps Zola try to escape from internment camp. But instead of freedom, he finds himself at the hands of criminal smugglers. When José blames himself for the death of his drug-addicted sister Marielle on New Year’s Eve, and Nathalie gets ever more deeply involved in Zola’s fate, José is forced to rethink his attitude. It’s up to him to decide. But to free someone, you may have to free yourself first. COLOR OF THE OCEAN is a gripping and moving story about humanity and responsibility with the essential focus of the human dilemma of when to get involved or not.

Genre Drama Category Feature Year of Production 2011 Director Maggie Peren Screenplay Maggie Peren Director of Photography Armin Franzen Cast Alex Gonzalez, Sabine Timoteo, Hubert Koundé, Friedrich Mücke, Nathalie Poza Producers Thomas Klimmer, Boris Jendreyko Production Company Südart Filmproduktion/Munich, in co-production with Starhaus Filmproduktion/Munich, El Olivo Producciones Audiovisuales/Alicante, Noirfilm/Karlsruhe, 40°Filmproduktion/Munich, BR/Munich, ARTE/Strasbourg, SWR/Baden-Baden Length 95 min Format 35 mm, color, cs Original Version German, Spanish, French Subtitled Versions English, German With backing from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, German Federal Film Board, MFG Baden-Württemberg, German Federal Film Fund Maggie Peren was born in 1974 in Heidelberg. She wrote her first screenplay, VERGISS AMERIKA (dir: Vanessa Jopp), in 1997 while studying Literature in Munich, during which time she also wrote the screenplay to Dennis Gansel’s Grimme Award-winning TV thriller DAS PHANTOM. Her other highly-acclaimed, awarding-winning screenplays include: MÄDCHEN MÄDCHEN, GANZ UND GAR, KISS AND RUN, MEINE ELTERN, NAPOLA, HÄNDE WEG VON MISSISSIPPI, her directorial debut HYPOCHONDER (short), her first feature SPECIAL ESCORT (STELLUNGSWECHSEL), and COLOR OF THE OCEAN (DIE FARBE DES OZEANS, 2011).

World Sales CINEPOOL – A Division of TELEPOOL GmbH · Irina Ignatiew Sonnenstr. 21 · 80331 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-55 87 60 · fax +49-89-55 87 61 92 23 [email protected] · www.telepool.de german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S28_FRONTALWATTE.qxp:Unter Strom 12.04.11 11:18 Seite 1

Scene from FRONTALWATTE (photo © Timon Schäppi)

FRONTALWATTE

FRONTALWATTE is like running against a hard wall and falling down softly. Franz, Adrian and Anastasia stumble through a pointless world. They kill time by viewing apartments, jaw operations, incest and poetry slams. Their search for identity becomes a search for the best fitting role. Genre Comedy, Coming-of-Age Story, Romantic Comedy Category Feature Year of Production 2011 Director Jakob Lass Director of Photography Timon Schäppi Cast Franz Rogowski, Gabi Herz, Simon Finkas, Paula Schramm, Katjana Gerz, Tom Lass Producer Jannis Funk Production Company Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen “Konrad Wolf ”/Potsdam-Babelsberg Length 78 min Format HD, color, 16:9 Original Version German Subtitled Version English Festivals Achtung Berlin 2011, Sehsüchte 2011

Jakob Lass was born in 1981. He trained as an actor and was a member of the Filmarche in Berlin-Kreuzberg and participated in the 2008 Berlinale Talent Campus. Since 2009, he has been studying Directing at the “Konrad Wolf ” University of Film & Television. His films include: the shorts NEBOT NEVEDI (2004), TÜR (2005), JANA (2005), CAPTAIN SMITH (2005), LOVE IS NOT A VICTORY MARCH (2006), BADEMEISTER PAUL (2007), THEM BRAKES (2008), U6/BLACK OUT (2008), EINE TAT (2008), FELINES HIRSCH (2009), SUCHGARTEN (2010), and his feature debut FRONTALWATTE (2011).

World Sales Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen “Konrad Wolf” · Cristina Marx Marlene-Dietrich-Allee 11 · 14482 Potsdam-Babelsberg/Germany phone +49-3 31-6 20 25 64 · fax +49-3 31-6 20 25 68 [email protected] · www.hff-potsdam.de german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S29_GEKAUFTEWAHRHEIT.qxp:Unter Strom 27.04.11 13:04 Seite 1

GEKAUFTE WAHRHEIT

– GENETIC ENGINEERING IN THE MAGNETIC FIELD OF MONEY Scene from SCIENTISTS UNDER ATTACK (photo © DENKmal Film)

SCIENTISTS UNDER ATTACK

– GENTECHNIK IM MAGNETFELD DES GELDES

Árpád Pusztai and Ignacio Chapela have two things in common. They are distinguished scientists and their careers are in ruins. Both scientists choose to look at the phenomenon of genetic engineering. Both made important discoveries. Both of them are suffering the fate of those who criticize the powerful vested interests that now dominate big business and scientific research. Statements made by scientists themselves prove that 95% of the research in the area of genetic engineering is paid by the industry. Only 5% of the research is independent. The big danger for freedom of science and our democracy is evident. Can the public still trust our scientists? Genre Ecology, Education, Science Category Documentary Year of Production 2010 Director Bertram Verhaag Screenplay Bertram Verhaag Director of Photography Waldemar Hauschild Producer Bertram Verhaag Production Company DENKmal-Film/Munich Length 88 min Format 35 mm & HD, color, 1:1.66 Original Version English Festivals FIPA 2010, Thessaloniki Doc Market 2010, OX DOX 2010, Durban 2010, New York 2010, Kos 2010, Milan 2010, Festival du Nouveau Cinéma Montreal 2010, CNEX Taipei 2010, DOCUTAH St. George 2010, ARPA L. A. 2010, Ft. Lauderdale 2010, The Indie Fest La Jolla 2010, Planet in Focus Toronto 2010, Forum International Medias Nord Sud Burkina Faso 2010, Festival Tutti nello stesso Piatto Trento 2010,

Maverick Movie Awards Meriden 2010, International Human Rights Festival Paris 2010, Pan African Film Festival L. A. 2011, Peace on Earth Film Festival Chicago 2011, among others Awards Best Documentary The Indie Fest 2010, AT&T Award for Environmental Conservation and Stewardship 2010, The Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism Award 2010, Accolade Award Best Documentary 2010, Best Feature Documentary & Best Orignal Score Maverick Movie Awards 2010 With backing from German Federal Film Board, German Federal Film Fund, Filmstiftung NRW, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern Bertram Verhaag was born in Sosnowitz in 1944 and studied Sociology and Political Economics. After working at the Munich City Council's town development department, he attended the University of Television & Film Munich. In 1976, he founded the production company DENKmal-Film with Claus Strigel. A selection of their films includes: WHAT'S THIS CALLED LOVE (1978), REALLY TOO MUCH (1983), NUCLEAR SPLIT (1987), RUNAWAY (1992), BLUE EYED (1996), THE CROSS-OVER ARTIST (1997), THE AGRO REBELL (2000), THE LAST MAN ALIVE (2001), 86,000 SECONDS – SOMETIME SOMEDAY IN AMERICA (2002), THUNDERBIRD WOMAN – WINONA LA DUKE (2003), LIFE RUNNING OUT OF CONTROL (2004), LIFE IN PLASTIC (2008), and SCIENTISTS UNDER ATTACK – GENETIC ENGINEERING IN THE MAGNETIC FIELD OF MONEY (2010), among others.

World Sales Mercury Media International Ltd. · Calum Gray 6 Baseline Studios · Whitchurch Road · London W11 4AT/UK phone +44-20-7221 7221 · fax +44-20-7221 7228 [email protected] · www.mercurymedia.org german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S30_G_RichterPainting.qxp:Unter Strom 12.04.11 11:38 Seite 1

GERHARD RICHTER PAINTING (photo © Hubert Becker)

GERHARD RICHTER PAINTING

The opening frames take us directly into the promised land – the artist's studio, his bright, clean, well-guarded workspace. A bustling production hall where Germany's preeminent post-war painter directs an army of assistants operating at peak capacity to satisfy the appetites of the global art market? On the contrary, we are given a fly-onthe-wall perspective to an intimate and highly personal artistic production process, as the coveted canvasses of one of the most productive and respected painters in contemporary art take shape. It is a quiet yet highly charged process of action and reflection, inner struggle and astonishing physical ease. The artist views a spontaneous first draft: "Hard to say. They could be better." We are often treated to Gerhard Richter's pithy comments, which reveal not only hard-won insight into life and art, but also wry humor, great humanity, and refreshing authenticity. At the cutting edge of his field for five decades now, Richter works beyond the boundaries of trends and cynicism. Born in 1932, his first thirteen years were spent under the National Socialist regime, then came sixteen years of East German Communism, followed by nearly half a century of what Richter refers to here in old archive footage as "Capitalist Realism." He remains fundamentally skeptical of all belief systems and ideologies.

World Sales The Match Factory GmbH · Michael Weber Balthasarstr. 79-81 · 50670 Cologne/Germany phone +49-2 21-5 39 70 90 · fax +49-2 21-5 39 70 910 [email protected] · www.the-match-factory.com german films quarterly 2 · 2011

Filmmaker Corinna Belz uses the extraordinary access granted to her by the famously private artist to give us a rare, immediate insight into the genesis of a series of abstract paintings, from the first stroke of paint on canvas, through countless layers of overpainting, to the exhibition opening in New York. GERHARD RICHTER PAINTING is a penetrating portrait of the artist at work. But it is also a film about seeing. Inspired and challenged by the critical eye of the artist, we are reminded that visual art, defying linguistic barriers, can be one of the most precious and complex means of expression available to human beings. Genre Art Category Documentary Year of Production 2011 Director Corinna Belz Screenplay Corinna Belz Directors of Photography Johann Feindt, Frank Kranstedt, Dieter Stürmer Producer Thomas Kufus Co-Producers Christoph Friedel, Claudia Steffen Production Company zero one film/Berlin, in co-production with TERZ Filmproduktion/Cologne, WDR/Cologne, MDR/Leipzig Length 97 min Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German, English Subtitled Version English With backing from MEDIA, Filmstiftung NRW, BKM, German Federal Film Fund Corinna Belz studied Philosophy, Art History and Media Sciences in Cologne, Zurich and Berlin. Since then, she has been working as a television producer, scriptwriter and director on numerous productions of various genres. Her films include: the documentaries LIFE AFTER MICROSOFT (2000), OTHER AMERICAN VOICES (2001), THREE WISHES (2004), GERHARD RICHTER’S WINDOW (2007), and GERHARD RICHTER PAINTING (2011).

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S31_KaddischFuerEinenFreund.qxp:Unter Strom 12.04.11 11:44 Seite 1

KADDISCH FÜR EINEN FREUND Scene from KADDISH FOR A FRIEND (photo © SiMa Film)

KADDISH FOR A FRIEND

Growing up in a Palestinian refugee camp, the 14-year-old Ali Messalam learned to hate Jews at an early age. After escaping Lebanon, he and his family end up in BerlinKreuzberg. Here, he tries to fit in and longs for nothing more than to be accepted by his fellow Arab youths. But to gain this recognition, he has to prove himself. In a test of courage, he breaks into the apartment of his Russian neighbor Alexander Zamskoy, an 84-year-old Jewish WWII veteran. But Ali’s “friends” follow him into the apartment and vandalize the old man’s home with abandon. Alexander only recognizes Ali when he returns home earlier than expected and reports him to the police. To avoid being sentenced and deported, Ali is forced to seek out closeness to his enemy … KADDISH FOR A FRIEND is a tragicomic story about friendship, trust and the art of forgiveness.

Genre Tragicomedy Category Feature Year of Production 2011 Director Leo Khasin Screenplay Leo Khasin Director of Photography Mathias Schöningh Cast Ryszard Ronczewski, Neil Belakhdar, Sanam Afrashteh, Neil Malik Abdullah, Heinz W. Krückeberg, Anna Böttcher, Fritz Roth, Erhan Emre Producer Martin Bach Co-Producers Lucia Keuter, Jochen Randig, Birgit Metz, Georg Steinert Production Company SiMa Film/Munich, in co-production with WDR/Cologne, BR/Munich, ARTE/Strasbourg Length 94 min Format 35 mm, color, cs Original Version German Subtitled Version English With backing from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, German Federal Film Fund Leo Khasin was born in Moscow in 1973 and has been living in Germany since 1981. He initially studied Dentistry, followed by studies at the Kaskeline Film Academy in Berlin and the Autorenschule Hamburg. He has worked as an assistant director and script developer on numerous film and television productions. His films include: the shorts DEAR MOM (LIEBE MUTTER, 2001), ANDERE MENSCHEN (music video for Vanessa Mason, 2003), THIRST (DURST, 2003), KICKBACK (2004), LIVEDEMO (music video, 2005), BERLIN FUCKING CITY (mood video, 2008), BROKEN COMEDY (2009), and his feature debut KADDISH FOR A FRIEND (KADDISCH FÜR EINEN FREUND, 2011).

World Sales SiMa Film Sigrid und Martin Bach GbR · Martin Bach Wilbrechtstr. 53 a · 81477 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-74 97 58 10 · fax +49-89-74 97 58 11 [email protected] german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S32_KRIEGERIN.qxp:Unter Strom 12.04.11 11:47 Seite 1

KRIEGERIN Scene from COMBAT GIRLS (photo © Jonas Schmager)

COMBAT GIRLS

Marisa, a 20-year-old German girl, hates foreigners, Jews, cops, and everyone she finds guilty for the decline of her country. She provokes, drinks, fights and her next tattoo will be a portrait of Adolf Hitler. The only place she feels at home is with the Neo-Nazi gang she belongs to, where hate, violence, and hefty parties are the daily rules. When 14-year-old Svenja joins the group, Marisa is like a role model to her: she fits the purest idea of a combat girl, fighting for the group’s ideology. But Marisa’s convictions will slowly evolve when she accidentally meets a young Afghan refugee. Confronted with him, she will learn that the black and white principles of her gang are not the only way. Will Marisa ever be able to get out of this group?

Genre Drama Category Feature Year of Production 2011 Director David F. Wnendt Screenplay David F. Wnendt Director of Photography Jonas Schmager Cast Alina Levshin, Jella Haase, Gerdy Zint, Sayed Ahmad Wasil Mrowat Producers Eva-Marie Martens, René Frotscher Production Company Mafilm/Berlin, in co-production with Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen “Konrad Wolf ”/Potsdam-Babelsberg, ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel/Mainz Length 107 min Format 35 mm, color, cs Original Version German Subtitled Version English With backing from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung David F. Wnendt was born in 1977 in Gelsenkirchen. He studied at the FAMU film school in Prague for one year before studying Journalism and Business Administration in Berlin. Since 2004, he has been a student at the “Konrad Wolf ” University of Television & Film. His films include: HANNAS HOBBY (2006), CALIFORNIA DREAMS (2007), KLEINE LICHTER (2008), and his graduation film COMBAT GIRLS (KRIEGERIN, 2011).

World Sales EastWest Filmdistribution · Sasha Wieser Schottenfeldgasse 14 · 1070 Vienna/Austria phone +43-1-5 24 93 10 · fax +49-1-5 24 93 10 20 [email protected] · www.eastwest-distribution.com · www.combatgirls-movie.com german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S33_THE_LOOK.qxp:Unter Strom 13.04.11 14:26 Seite 1

Scene from THE LOOK – CHARLOTTE RAMPLING (photo © Angelina Maccarone)

THE LOOK – CHARLOTTE RAMPLING

There is a shroud of mystery surrounding the figure of Charlotte Rampling. For some, she is a taboo breaker; for others, she is a style icon. But without a doubt, she is an international star and a fearless avant-gardist – because she follows her gut feeling rather than thinking about whether or not it will be good for her career. She was the Chelsea Girl in the swinging London of the 1960s. For his film THE DAMNED, Visconti brought her to Italy, where her role in Cavani’s THE NIGHT PORTER set off a huge taboo debate. She inspired Helmut Newton to his very first nude photo. She was the perfect woman for Woody Allen in New York and she stood before the camera in Hollywood with Paul Newman. Avowedly, she prefers to work with “auteurs”, like Nagisa Oshima and Francois Ozon. Often characterized as the “object of desire”, the view in THE LOOK is hers: she is the subject of the film. With companions like Peter Lindbergh and Paul Auster, she plumbs in nine chapters the great topics in life, beyond the anecdotal and mere chronological memories: EXPOSURE, BEAUTY, AGE, RESONANCE, TABOO, DESIRE, DEMONS, DEATH, and LOVE.

Genre Documentary Year of Production 2011 Director Angelina Maccarone Screenplay Angelina Maccarone Director of Photography Bernd Meiners Cast Charlotte Rampling Producers Gerd Haag, Michael Trabitzsch, Serge Lalou, Charlotte Uzu Production Companies TAG/TRAUM Filmproduktion/ Cologne, Prounen Film/Berlin, Les Films d’ici/Paris, in co-production with ZDF/Mainz, 3sat/Mainz, ARTE France/Issy-les-Moulineaux Length 90 min Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version French, English Subtitled Versions German, French Festivals Cannes 2011 (Cannes Classics) With backing from German Federal Film Fund, Filmstiftung NRW, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg Angelina Maccarone was born in Cologne in 1965 and studied German and American Literature and Film at the University of Hamburg. She made her directorial debut in 1994 with the comingout comedy KOMMT MAUSI RAUS? and followed this with EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE (ALLES WIRD GUT, 1997) winner of Audience Awards in New York, Toronto and Los Angeles, AN ANGEL’S REVENGE (EIN ENGEL SCHLÄGT ZURÜCK, 1997), UNVEILED (FREMDE HAUT, 2005) winner of the Hessischer Filmpreis for Best Feature, Jury Grand Prize at the International LGBT Festival in Montreal and the Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Seattle L & G Film Festival, HOUNDED (VERFOLGT, 2006) which won the Filmmakers of the Present: Golden Leopard at Locarno in 2006, VIVERE (2006), and THE LOOK (2011).

World Sales MK2 Diffusion · Delphine Bonnafour, Juliette Schrameck 55 rue Traversière · 75012 Paris/France phone +33-1-44 67 30 00 [email protected] · www.mk2.com german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S34_MamaAfrica.qxp:Unter Strom 27.04.11 13:06 Seite 1

Scene from MAMA AFRICA (photo courtesy of Starhaus Filmproduktion)

MAMA AFRICA

Mika Kaurismäki’s documentary about world-famous South African singer Miriam Makeba, who spent half a century traveling the world spreading her political message to fight racism, poverty and promote justice and peace, is a tribute to a woman who embodied the hopes and the voice of Africa. Miriam Makeba (1932-2008) was an inspiration to musicians all over the world and a delight for international audiences. Forced into early exile in 1959 as a result of her involvement in the documentary indictment of Apartheid COME BACK, AFRICA, Harry Belafonte helped her to gain entry to the USA where she scored her first international hit with Pata Pata. Finding herself in the sights of the FBI following her marriage to Black Panther activist Stokely Carmichael in 1968, she decided to settle in Guinea where she continued to fight the white Apartheid regime in her native land. Making use of rare documentary footage and a plethora of interviews, this film portrays the life of this exceptional artiste.

Genre Biopic Category Documentary Year of Production 2011 Director Mika Kaurismäki Screenplay Mika Kaurismäki, Don Edkins Directors of Photography Jacques Cheuiche, Wolfgang Held, Frank Peter Lehmann, Martina Radwan, Eran Tahor Cast Miriam Makeba, Zenzi Monique Lee, Nelson Lumumba Lee, Hugh Masekela, Angelique Kidjo Producer Rainer Kölmel CoProducers Don Edkins, Mika Kaurismäki, Hans Robert Eisenhauer Production Company Starhaus Filmproduktion/Munich, in coproduction with Millennium Films/Cape Town, Marianna Films/ Helsinki, ZDF & ARTE/Mainz Length 90 min Format HDCam, color/b&w, 16:9 Original Version English, French Subtitled Versions English, German Festivals Berlin 2011, Tribeca 2011, HotDocs 2011 Awards 2nd Place Panorama Audience Award Berlin 2011 With backing from Filmstiftung NRW, The Finnish Film Foundation Mika Kaurismäki was born in 1955 in Orimattila/Finland. He studied at the University of Television and Film in Munich from 19771981 and made a name for himself with ironic gangster films such as ROSSO (1985) and HELSINKI NAPOLI (1987). He co-founded the Midnight Sun Film Festival in Sodankylä, Sápmi in 1986 and moved to Brazil in 1992. Since making his punk documentary SAIMAA-ILMIÖ (1981) his films have often portrayed Afro-American musicians, most recently Billy Cobham of the band Sonic Mirror.

World Sales Fortissimo Film Sales · Gabrielle Rozing Van Diemenstraat 100 · 1013 CN Amsterdam/The Netherlands phone +31-20-6 27 32 15 · fax +31-20-6 26 11 55 [email protected] · www.fortissimo.nl german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S35_MANOLO.qxp:Unter Strom 12.04.11 11:51 Seite 1

Scene from MANOLO (photo © dffb)

MANOLO

His mother wants him out of the house, his cousin wants him out of his way and Linda, this summer’s princess, wants something too, if only he knew what. On a sunny afternoon at the pool, 12-year-old Manolo has to face his fears: Will he stand up to his big cousin Mike, the notorious splash-diving hotshot?

Genre Coming-of-Age Story Category Short Year of Production 2010 Director Robert Bohrer Screenplay Robert Bohrer Director of Photography Max Preiss Cast Branco Saciri, Odine Johne, Eric Klotzsch Producers Matthias Nerlich, Christian Specht Production Company Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (dffb) Length 19 min Format HDCam/ DigiBeta, color, cs Original Version German Subtitled Version English Festivals Regensburg 2011 Awards German Short Film Award 2010 Robert Bohrer was born in 1979 in Bonn and trained as a film and video editor. His films include: ALI VS. WAAD (2008), GO MY WAY (2008), and MANOLO (2010).

World Sales Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin GmbH (dffb) · Juli Schymik, Laure Tinette Potsdamer Str. 2 · 10785 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-25 75 91 52 · fax +49-30-25 75 91 62 [email protected], [email protected] · www.dffb.de german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S36_NymannInProgress.qxp:Unter Strom 27.04.11 16:35 Seite 1

MICHAEL NYMAN (photo © Monarda Arts GmbH)

NYMAN IN PROGRESS

Michael Nyman – a composer famous for his genre defining film music, which, in a career spanning over 30 years, has encompassed movies as diverse as THE DRAUGHTSMAN’S CONTRACT, GATTACA, and the worldwide hit THE PIANO. The massive success of his soundtrack for THE PIANO was for many people the defining point in Nyman’s career. So much so that it has taken the artist fifteen years to break free from his association with the film in the public’s mind and be accepted once more as a multitalented contemporary composer. Starting with the celebrations for his 65th birthday in March 2009, this film shows one of the great composers of our time in all his diversity and endless energy. Featuring unprecedented access to the composer and his working life, the film accompanies Nyman on the journey from his home in London through Europe, Russia, Mexico, China, and beyond. It shows his concerts with the Michael Nyman Band during which greatest hits are performed from his long career and live collaborations with other internationally known musicians. Throughout his journeys, Nyman’s increasing passion for filming and photography gives the film an insight into his views, his thoughts and emotions; his world. Recently

Nyman started to edit his visual works and combine them with his music. This he describes as a ‘new liberty’, after three decades of working with other director’s visual images. Genre Music Category Documentary Year of Production 2010 Director Silvia Beck Screenplay Silvia Beck Cast Michael Nyman, Volker Schlöndorff, Steve Reich Producers Erwin Stürzer, Torsten Bönnhoff Production Company Monarda Arts/Halle, in co-production with Arthaus Musik/Halle Length 82 min Format HDCam SR, color, 1:1.85 Original Version English, German Subtitled Versions German, English Festivals Warsaw 2010, Ghent 2010, Taipei Golden Horse 2010 With backing from Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung Silvia Beck was born in 1967 in Bruchsal. From 1987-1989 she trained as a photographer, followed by editorial training. From 19921998, she worked as a camera assistant for feature films and documentaries. From 1997-1999 she then studied Cinematography at the National Film School in the UK. Her films include the documentaries: OXFORD STREET (1999), I AM FROM NOWHERE (2001), FANFARE (2002), CARMINA BERLINA (2006), LENINLAND (2008), VEIL OF THE TEMPLE (2009), and NYMAN IN PROGRESS (2010).

World Sales Aktis Film International GmbH · Stelios Ziannis Altenburgerstr. 7 · 04275 Leipzig/Germany phone +49-3 41-35 00 26 10 · fax +49-3 41-35 00 26 19 [email protected] · www.aktis-film.com german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S37_RABENJUNGE.qxp:Unter Strom 12.04.11 11:59 Seite 1

RABENJUNGE Scene from RAVENBOY (photo ©Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg/Andrea Deppert)

RAVENBOY

The village children live by the law of the jungle. Led on by the meanest, most brutal of the boys, they take pleasure in ridiculing Ravenboy, the outsider. One day an enchanting girl arrives. She has come from far away and beguiles all the children. But who will she choose to favor with her attentions? Genre Animation Category Short Year of Production 2011 Director Andrea Deppert Screenplay Andrea Deppert Director of Photography Heiko Gabriel Producer Simon Buchner Production Company Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg/Ludwigsburg Length 10 min Format HDCam, color, 1:1.85 Original Version no dialogue Festivals Berlin 2011, Dresden 2011, Stuttgart 2011, Istanbul 2011 With backing from Michael Schmetz Media Consulting/Berlin, Caligari Preis 2009, Gerda & Wolfgang Mann Stiftung

Andrea Deppert was born in 1977 in Göttingen and attended Leibniz College in Tübingen. In 1998 she took up Architecture at Hamburg College of Fine Arts, but changed her major to study Visual Communications and moved to Berlin to study at the University of the Arts. She began attending the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy in 2004. RAVENBOY (RABENJUNGE, 2011) is her graduation film. Her other films include: STADTFÜHRUNG (2004), V348 SAGITARII (2005), TAMTA AND GEORGI (2006), and THE VISITOR (2008).

World Sales Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg · Sigrid Gairing Akademiehof 10 · 71638 Ludwigsburg/Germany phone +49-71 41-96 91 93 · fax +49-71 41-96 95 51 93 [email protected] · www.filmakademie.de german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S38_DasRoteZimmer.qxp:Unter Strom 27.04.11 16:38 Seite 1

DAS ROTE ZIMMER Scene from THE RED ROOM (photo © Moana-Film GmbH)

THE RED ROOM

The philematologist (the science of kissing) Fred’s obsession for his research leads his wife to file for divorce and to mobbing from his colleagues at the institute. A chance meeting with the young Luzie in his favorite bookshop sees him accepting her invitation to come to her “laboratory” in her house, which she shares with her girlfriend Sibil. It is only once he has arrived there that Fred finds that he will become a subject of analysis for Luzie’s new book exploring men’s souls. But things simmer in a different way. Fred falls for Luzie and Sibil and so do both ladies too. And, at some point the red room plays an important role … Genre Romantic Comedy Category Feature Year of Production 2010 Director Rudolf Thome Screenplay Rudolf Thome Director of Photography Ute Freund Cast Peter Knaack, Katharina Lorenz, Seyneb Saleh, Hanns Zischler Producer Rudolf Thome Production Company Moana-Film/Berlin Length 101 min Format HDCam/35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German Subtitled Version English Festivals Viennale 2010

Rudolf Thome was born in Wallau/Lahn in 1939 and studied German, Philosophy and History in Munich and Bonn. He began writing film reviews in 1962 for various newspapers and magazines. In 1964, he collaborated with Max Zihlmann and Klaus Lemke on his first short film, DIE VERSÖHNUNG. He then became managing director of the Munich Film Critics’ Club in 1965 and founded his own production company, Moana-Film, in 1977. He received the 2nd place Guild Award in the category Best German Film for BERLIN CHAMISSOPLATZ in 1981, and the International Film Critics’ Award in Montreal in 1989 for his film THE PHILOSOPHER. His film PARADISO (1999) won a Silver Bear at Berlin in 2000. His other films include: STELLA (1966), RED SUN (ROTE SONNE, 1969), SUPERGIRL (1971), MADE IN GERMANY AND USA (1974), LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT (LIEBE AUF DEN ERSTEN BLICK, 1991), DAS GEHEIMNIS (1995), JUST MARRIED (1998), VENUS TALKING (2001), RED AND BLUE (ROT UND BLAU, 2002), WOMAN DRIVING, MAN SLEEPING (FRAU FÄHRT, MAN SCHLÄFT, 2003), YOU TOLD ME YOU LOVE ME (DU HAST GESAGT, DASS DU MICH LIEBST, 2005), SMOKE SIGNS (RAUCHZEICHEN, 2006), THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE (DAS SICHTBARE UND DAS UNSICHTBARE, 2007), PINK (2008), and THE RED ROOM (DAS ROTE ZIMMER, 2010).

World Sales Aktis Film International GmbH · Stelios Ziannis Altenburgerstr. 7 · 04275 Leipzig/Germany phone +49-3 41-35 00 26 10 · fax +49-3 41-35 00 26 19 [email protected] · www.aktis-film.com german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S39_SEPPI+HIAS.qxp:Unter Strom 12.04.11 12:02 Seite 1

SEPPI & HIAS

– BAYERISCH-TÜRKISCHE LAUSBUBENGESCHICHTEN

Scene from SEPPI & HIAS (photo © Zefix Film/Emanuel Neumeister)

SEPPI & HIAS – THE BAVARIAN-TURKISH LITTLE RASCALS

Seppi and Hias are inseparable pals – two typical little rascals in the hills and dales of Upper Bavaria. They speak the local dialect and would be indistinguishable from other kids their age, but for one slight difference. Seppi (whose real name is Yusuf) is actually of Turkish origin. The two 9-yearolds make their mischief in an Upper Bavarian village where they are third-grade classmates, play garage-door kickball, chow down on a local specialty called “Leberkäse” and cheer for the FC Bayern soccer team. They both dream of owning a Bayern jersey, but there is just one left at the local store. So how can they get their hands on it and who will be the first one to snap it up? Just as Hias’ (short for Matthias) first communion and the obligatory visit to the confessional are in the offing, Seppi’s Islamic-conservative uncle arrives in town, and the two boys simultaneously find themselves confronted with their sins. Agitation and anxiety are the order of the day. But since when has eating Leberkäse been a sin? And how can you get rid of the burden of sin? But Seppi and Hias wouldn’t be dyed-in-the-wool scoundrels or true pals if they didn’t know how to get out of any tight spot!

with guest appearances by Hansi Kraus and FC Bayern soccer stars Philipp Lahm and Hamit Altintop. A story of friendship beyond cultural and religious borders. Genre Children & Youth, Comedy, Family Entertainment Category Short Year of Production 2010 Director Emre Koca Screenplay Emre Koca, Florian Wammetsberger Director of Photography Frank Hackeschmidt Cast Can Schneider, Thomas Schöttl, Hansi Kraus, Hans Stadlbauer, Aykut Kayacik, Suzan Demircan, Michaela Heigenhauser, Philipp Lahm, Hamit Altintop Producers Emre Koca, Rafael Parente, Oliver Bauer Production Company Zefix Filmproduktion/Munich, in co-production with BR/Munich, Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München/Munich Length 31 min Format DigiBeta/Blu-ray, color, 16:9 Original Version German Subtitled Version English Festivals Fünf Seen Film Festival Starnberg 2010, FTII Students’ Film Festival Pune/ India 2010, Izmir Short Film Festival 2010, Kontrast Bayreuth 2011, Landshut Short Film Festival 2011, Turkish Film Days Munich 2011, India International Film Festival 2011, Sehsüchte 2011, WorldKids India 2011, Emmentaler Film Days 2011 Awards Knax Children’s Film Award Bayreuth 2011, Children’s Film Award Landshut 2011 With backing from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern

SEPPI & HIAS is an homage to the Lausbubengeschichten (Little Rascals Stories) by Bavarian folk author Ludwig Thoma and the eponymous film adaptations from 19641969, but this time from a multi-cultural vantage point and

Emre Koca was born in 1971 in Turkey and moved at the age of four to the Upper Bavarian countryside. He studied Communications in Paris and Political Science in Munich, then Film Direction at the University of Television & Film in Munich. Active as a producer, director and author, his films include: WEITES MEER (short, 2000, Short Tiger Award), CLEANING UP YOUR WORLD (short, 2004), World Sales PORTRAIT GERHARD FROMM (documentary, 2004), AU VIEUX Zefix Filmproduktion GbR · Emre Koca Georg-Kerschensteiner-Str. 35 · 81829 Munich/Germany PARIS (documentary, 2006), ANSCHI, KARL-HEINZ & CO (TV, 2007-2009), and his graduation film SEPPI & HIAS (short, 2010). phone +49-1 70-9 03 55 51 [email protected] · www.zefixfilm.de german films quarterly

2 · 2011

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S40_SXVAGAN-FORT.qxp:Unter Strom 12.04.11 12:36 Seite 1

SXVAGAN – FORT Scene from SXVAGAN – AWAY (photo © Björn Bethke)

SXVAGAN – AWAY

Following a friend’s suicide, a young man decides to leave everything in search of a new life together with his girlfriend. Fiction meets documentary and presents an authentic image of today’s new generation in Georgia. Genre Drama, Road Movie Category Feature Year of Production 2011 Director Tinatin Gurchiani Screenplay Tinatin Gurchiani Director of Photography Björn Bethke Cast Giorgi Aptsuauri, Mari Bolqvadze Producers Tinatin Gurchiani, Tamar Gurchiani Production Company Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen “Konrad Wolf ”/Potsdam-Babelsberg, in co-production with Georgian Films/Tiflis Length 67 min Format HDCam, color, 16:9 Original Version Georgian Subtitled Versions English, German

Tinatin Gurchiani was born in 1973 in Tiflis/Georgia. She studied Psychology in Tiflis, Freiburg and Graz, followed by work as a psychologist and photographer. Since 2003, she has been studying Directing at the “Konrad Wolf ” University of Film & Television. Her films include: EIN SONNTAG (2004), AUGENBLICK (2005), KILLER (2006), FRAUENBILDER (2007), and SXVAGAN – AWAY (SXVAGAN – FORT, 2011).

World Sales Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen “Konrad Wolf” · Cristina Marx Marlene-Dietrich-Allee 11 · 14482 Potsdam-Babelsberg/Germany phone +49-3 31-6 20 25 64 · fax +49-3 31-6 20 25 68 [email protected] · www.hff-potsdam.de german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S41_TageDieBleiben.qxp:Unter Strom 12.04.11 12:37 Seite 1

TAGE DIE BLEIBEN Scene from A FAMILY OF THREE (photo © 2011 Toccata Film GmbH & Co. KG)

A FAMILY OF THREE

When novelist Andrea Dewenter dies in a car accident, the lives of her husband Christian, grown-up son Lars, and teenage daughter Elaine go off the rails. For all three, the days between Andrea's sudden death and her funeral turn into an emotional roller coaster that eventually shows them the virtue of being a family. A FAMILY OF THREE is a touching and often dry-humored take on an ordinary family going through the extraordinary time of bereavement.

Genre Drama Category Feature Year of Production 2011 Director Pia Strietmann Screenplay Pia Strietmann, Lea Schmidbauer Director of Photography Stephan Vorbrugg Cast Götz Schubert, Max Riemelt, Mathilde Bundschuh, Lena Stolze, Michael Kranz, Tessa Mittelstaedt, Franziska Weisz, Andreas Schmidt, Karl Alexander Seidel, Lucie Hollmann Producers Fritz Böhm, Sven Nuri Production Company Toccata Film/Munich, in co-production with WDR/Cologne, BR/Munich, Esperanto Entertainment/ Friedberg Length 107 min Format 35 mm, color, cs Original Version German Subtitled Version English Festivals Max Ophüls Prize Saarbrücken 2011 (In Competition) Awards Special Jury Mention Saarbrücken 2011 With backing from Filmstiftung NRW, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, German Federal Film Fund, Hessische Filmförderung Pia Strietmann was born in 1978 in Münster. After working as a first AD and producer for different German production companies, she studied Directing at the University of Television & Film in Munich from 2001-2008. Her short OFFBEAT (2008) was screened at numerous festivals worldwide and was honored with the Starter Film Prize of the City of Munich. Her other films include: FAR AWAY (2001), FILMSTARS (2003), the episode BLACK IVORIES from the film NEUN (2004), MARTIN GSCHLACHT, PORTRAIT OF AN AUSTRIAN DP (2005), and her feature debut A FAMILY OF THREE (2011).

World Sales Toccata Film GmbH & Co. KG · Fritz Böhm Bauerstr. 34 · 80796 Munich/Germany phone +49 89-45 22 22 30 · fax +49 89-45 22 22 45 [email protected] · www.toccata-film.com german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S42_UeberUnsDasAll.qxp:Unter Strom 27.04.11 13:11 Seite 1

ÜBER UNS DAS ALL Sandra Hüller in ABOVE US ONLY SKY (photo © Pandora Film/Marc Comes)

ABOVE US ONLY SKY

One could say of Martha’s life that it’s well-balanced, fulfilling – happy. She enjoys her teaching job, has a group of loyal, loving friends and, above all, she has Paul. The man she loves and has been living with for several years now. With Paul at her side, the positive, energetic Martha has no fear of the future. Then two policewomen show up at her door, and with just a few words tear her life apart, into a before and after. The man Martha has been living with is a phantom, his life a lie – a presence that seems to have glided out of her life without leaving a trace. As she tries to cope, she meets Alexander, and a simple, single gesture of his hand suffices to remind her of Paul. Can Alexander fill the gap left by Paul? Unaware of the recent turmoil in Martha’s life, Alexander begins to fall in love with her. They quickly pick up the rites and rituals of a couple: theater, dinner, the keys to her flat. But if there is to be a future with Alexander, Martha must find a way to come to terms with the past … Can we miss someone so much that we feel we’ve discovered him or her in another? Can the longing for a past love bring forth a new one? These are some of the questions young filmmaker Jan Schomburg addresses in his ambitious feature film debut ABOVE US ONLY SKY. With Sandra Hüller (REQUIEM, MADONNEN) in the lead role

alongside Georg Friedrich (MY BEST ENEMY, NORTH FACE, IMPORT/EXPORT, DOG DAYS), Schomburg masterfully succeeds in probing deep into the mind and heart of a woman who is desperate to hold the shards of her broken life together. Genre Drama, Love Story Category Feature Year of Production 2011 Director Jan Schomburg Screenplay Jan Schomburg Director of Photography Marc Comes Cast Sandra Hüller, Georg Friedrich, Felix Knopp Producers Claudia Steffen, Christoph Friedel Production Company Pandora Film/Cologne, in co-production with WDR/Cologne Length 88 min Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German Subtitled Version English Festivals Berlin 2011 Awards Europa Cinemas Label: Best European Film Panorama Berlin 2011 With backing from Filmstiftung NRW, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein Jan Schomburg was born in 1976 in Aachen. After receiving a degree in Visual Communication from the Kassel Art Academy, he studied Directing at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. In 2008, he received a scholarship to attend the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing in Warsaw. A selection of his films includes: the awardwining shorts HOTELZIMMER (1999), TURNVEREIN (2001), NEVER EVEN (NIE SOLO SEIN, 2004), ESTHER (2005), INNERE WERTE (TV, 2007), and his feature debut ABOVE US ONLY SKY (ÜBER UNS DAS ALL, 2011).

World Sales Bavaria Film International · Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH · Thorsten Ritter Bavariafilmplatz 7 · 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20 [email protected] · www.bavaria-film-international.com german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S43_UNDERWATERLOVE.qxp:Unter Strom 27.04.11 16:40 Seite 1

Scene from UNDERWATER LOVE (photo © Chris Doyle/Rapid Eye Movies)

UNDERWATER LOVE

Asuka works in a lakeside fish factory. She is just about to be married to her boss. One day, she encounters a Kappa, a water creature living in the lake and learns that it is the reincarnation of Aoki, her first love. What ensues is a zany spectacle of love, music and sex. Genre Comedy, Musical Category Feature Year of Production 2011 Director Shinji Imaoka Screenplay Shinji Imaoka, Fumio Moriya Director of Photography Christopher Doyle Cast Sawa Masaki, Yoshiro Umezawa, Ai Narita, Mutsuo Yoshioka Producers Stephan Holl, Daisuke Asakura Production Companies Rapid Eye Movies/Cologne, Kokuei Company/Tokyo Length 87 min Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version Japanese Subtitled Version English Festivals Tribeca 2011

Shinji Imaoka was born in 1965 and took Screenwriting courses at the Asahi Culture Center while attending the Yokohama City University. He belongs to a new generation of “pink film” directors known as the “Seven Lucky Gods”. His films include: WAITING FOR THE COMET (1995), NIPPLES (1996), DEMEKING 1998), DESPITE ALL THAT (1999), GRASP (2000), ANOTHER MAN (2001), LUNCH BOX (2004), FROG SONG (2005), UNCLE’S PARADISE (2006), THE TENDER THROBBING TWILIGHT (2007), and UNDERWATER LOVE (2011).

World Sales Films Boutique GmbH · Laura Inoka Skalitzer Str. 54a · 10997 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-69 53 78 50 · fax +49-30-69 53 78 51 [email protected] · www.filmsboutique.com german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S44_DieVerlohreneZeit.qxp:Unter Strom 12.04.11 11:08 Seite 1

DIE VERLORENE ZEIT Scene from REMEMBRANCE (photo © Tom Trambow)

REMEMBRANCE

Inspired by actual events, REMEMBRANCE depicts a remarkable love story that blossomed amidst the terror of a German concentration camp in 1944 in Poland. In a daring escape, Tomasz, a young Polish prisoner, rescues the life of his Jewish lover Hannah Silberstein. But during the chaos of the end of the war, they are forcibly separated and each is convinced that the other has died. More than thirty years later in New York City, the happily married Hannah believes to have seen her Tomasz in an interview on TV. And she begins to search for him again … Genre Drama, Love Story Category Feature Year of Production 2011 Director Anna Justice Screenplay Pamela Katz Director of Photography Sebastian Edschmid Cast Alice Dwyer, Dagmar Manzel, Mateusz Damiecki, Susanne Lothar, Florian Lukas, Shantel VanSanten, David Rasche Producers Sven Woldt, Michael Ballhaus Production Company Media Park Film und Fernsehproduktion/Zeuthen, in co-production with NDR/Hamburg, MDR/Leipzig, in cooperation with ARTE/Strasbourg Length

105 min Format 35 mm, color, cs Original Version German, English, Polish Subtitled Version English With backing from Nordmedia, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, German Federal Film Fund Anna Justice was born in Münster. After traveling to Los Angeles to complete her education as a translator, she remained there for five years and gained first experience in the film business. She then studied Filmmaking at the German Film & Television Academy Berlin (dffb) and attended screenwriting courses with Frank Daniel and Don Bohlinger. Since 1997, she has been working as a director and scriptwriter. A selection of her films includes: TUT MIR LEID WEGEN GESTERN, DER SOMMER MIT BOILER, GEFÜHLE IM STURM, ICH LIEBE DAS LEBEN, NOCH EINMAL LIEBEN, MAX MINSKY AND ME (MAX MINSKY UND ICH), and REMEMBRANCE (DIE VERLORENE ZEIT).

World Sales Atrix Films GmbH · Beatrix Wesle Max-Emanuel-Str. 16 · 82319 Starnberg/Germany phone +49-81 51-5 50 95 45 [email protected] · www.atrix-films.com german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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S45_ZIMMER67.qxp:Unter Strom 12.04.11 12:45 Seite 1

ZIMMER 67 Scene from ROOM 67 (photo © Matthias Maasz/JUMA Filmproduktion)

ROOM 67

The young and hearing-impaired Anna and the spirited and clumsy Max meet in a hotel lobby. She was stood up by a blind date, he is traveling to a non-smoker’s convention and ended up in the wrong hotel by mistake. Both like each other instantly – but how does one flirt, when the inamorata does not hear anything? Without being intimidated, they start getting to know each other and discover inventive ways of communication. Eventually, they end up in a hotel room, raid the minibar, laugh together, kiss, make love … Then there is a knock on the door and Max is arrested. Is he the wanted sex murderer?

Matthias Maasz studied at the Professional School for Optics and Photographic Technology in Berlin and the Merz Akademie – University of Applied Sciences for Design in Stuttgart. He worked as a director of photography and founded the websites of Imago – the European Federation of Cinematographers and of bvk – the German Society for Cinematographers. After a collaboration on the book Making Pictures – A Century of European Cinematography, he produced and directed the documentary film FROM DOGMA TO DOGVILLE – DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME. In 2010 he founded JUMA Filmproduktion together with Judith Claudia Gorgass to realize ROOM 67, his debut as the writer, director and producer of a narrative short.

Genre Romantic Comedy, Erotic Category Short Year of Production 2011 Director Matthias Maasz Screenplay Matthias Maasz Directors of Photography Matthias Maasz, Antonia Schmitt Cast Judith Claudia Gorgass, Florian Kiml, Christoph Pabst, Selina Wittemer, Moses Wolff, Eileen Schaefer, Jessica Demirkaya Producers Matthias Maasz, Judith Claudia Gorgass Production Company JUMA Filmproduktion/Munich & Stuttgart Length 20 min Format HD, color, 16:9 Original Version German Subtitled Versions English, French, Spanish

World Sales JUMA Filmproduktion · Matthias Maasz Daimlerstr. 16 · 70372 Stuttgart/Germany phone +49-7 11-5 50 88 98 [email protected] · www.zimmer67-film.de german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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GERMAN FILMS

SHAREHOLDERS & SUPPORTERS Allianz Deutscher Produzenten – Film & Fernsehen e.V. German Producers Alliance Charlottenstr. 65, 10117 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-2 06 70 88 0, fax +49-30-2 06 70 88 44 [email protected] www.produzentenallianz.de

Filmförderungsanstalt German Federal Film Board Große Präsidentenstr. 9, 10178 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-27 57 70, fax +49-30-27 57 71 11 [email protected], www.ffa.de

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Dokumentarfilm e.V. German Documentary Association Schweizer Str. 6, 60594 Frankfurt am Main/Germany phone +49-69-62 37 00, fax +49-61 42-96 64 24 [email protected], www.agdok.de

Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen GmbH Kaistr. 14, 40221 Düsseldorf/Germany phone +49-2 11-93 05 00, fax +49-2 11-93 05 05 [email protected], www.filmstiftung.de

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kurzfilm e.V. German Short Film Association Förstereistr. 36, 01099 Dresden/Germany phone +49-3 51-4 04 55 75, fax +49-3 51-4 04 55 76 [email protected], www.ag-kurzfilm.de

Verband Deutscher Filmexporteure e.V. (VDFE) Association of German Film Exporters Robert-Koch-Str. 1, 80538 Munich/Germany phone +49- 89-57 08 77 53, fax +49-89-57 08 77 60 [email protected], www.vdfe.de Berlin office: Joachimstr. 7, 10119 Berlin/Germany

Deutsche Kinemathek Museum für Film und Fernsehen Potsdamer Str. 2, 10785 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-30 09 03-0, fax +49-30-30 09 03-13 [email protected] www.deutsche-kinemathek.de

Verband Deutscher Filmproduzenten e.V. Association of German Film Producers Beichstr. 8, 80802 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-39 11 23, fax +49-89-33 74 32 [email protected] www.filmproduzentenverband.de, www.filmproducers.de

FilmFernsehFonds Bayern GmbH Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Medien in Bayern Sonnenstr. 21, 80331 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-54 46 02-0, fax +49-89-54 46 02 21 [email protected], www.fff-bayern.de

Der Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien Federal Government Commissioner for Culture & the Media Referat K 35, Europahaus Stresemannstr. 94, 10963 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-1 86 81 49 29, fax +49-30-18 68 15 49 29 [email protected]

MFG Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg mbH Breitscheidstr. 4, 70174 Stuttgart/Germany phone +49-7 11-90 71 54 00, fax +49-7 11-90 71 54 50 [email protected], www.mfg-filmfoerderung.de

Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein GmbH Friedensallee 14–16, 22765 Hamburg/Germany phone +49-40-398 37-0 fax +49-40-398 37-10 [email protected], www.ffhsh.de

Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung GmbH Hainstr. 17-19, 04109 Leipzig/Germany phone +49-3 41-26 98 70, fax +49-3 41-2 69 87 65 [email protected], www.mdm-online.de

Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH August-Bebel-Str. 26-53 14482 Potsdam-Babelsberg/Germany phone +49-3 31-74 38 70, fax +49-3 31-7 43 87 99 [email protected], www.medienboard.de

nordmedia – Die Mediengesellschaft Niedersachsen/Bremen mbH Expo Plaza 1, 30539 Hanover/Germany phone +49-5 11-1 23 45 60, fax +49-5 11-12 34 56 29 [email protected], www.nordmedia.de

german films quarterly 2 · 2011

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ASSOCIATION OF GERMAN FILM EXPORTERS Verband deutscher Filmexporteure e.V. (VDFE) please contact Edith Forster Robert-Koch-Str. 1 80538 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-570 877 53 fax +49-89-570 877 60 [email protected] www.vdfe.de Berlin office: Joachimstr. 7 10119 Berlin/Germany

Action Concept Film- & Stuntproduktion GmbH An der Hasenkaule 1-7 50354 Huerth/Germany phone +49-22 33-50 81 00 fax +49-22 33-50 81 80 [email protected] www.actionconcept.com

Aktis Film International GmbH Altenburgerstr. 7 04275 Leipzig/Germany phone +49-3 41-35 00 26 10 fax +49-3 41-35 00 26 19 [email protected] www.aktis-film.com

ARRI Media Worldsales Türkenstr. 89 80799 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-38 09 12 88 fax +49-89-38 09 16 19 [email protected] www.arri-mediaworldsales.de

Atlas International Film GmbH Candidplatz 11 81543 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-21 09 75-0 fax +49-89-21 09 75 81 [email protected] www.atlasfilm.com

german films quarterly 2 · 2011

Films Boutique GmbH Skalitzer Str. 54A 10997 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-69 53 78 50 fax +49 30-69 53 78 51 [email protected] www.filmsboutique.com

ATRIX Films GmbH Max-Emanuel-Str. 16 82319 Starnberg/Germany phone +49-81 51-5 50 95 45 [email protected] www.atrix-films.com

Bavaria Film International Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH Bavariafilmplatz 7 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 fax +49-89-64 99 37 20 [email protected] www.bavaria-film-international.com

Beta Cinema Dept. of Beta Film GmbH Grünwalder Weg 28d 82041 Oberhaching/Germany phone +49-89-67 34 69 80 fax +49-89-6 73 46 98 88 [email protected] www.betacinema.com

Constantin Film Verleih GmbH Feilitzschstr. 6 80802 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-44 44 60 0 fax +49-89-44 44 60 666 [email protected] www.constantin-film.de

EEAP Eastern European Acquisition Pool GmbH Alexanderstr. 7 10178 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-25 76 23 30 fax +49-30-25 76 23 59 [email protected] www.eeap.eu

The Match Factory GmbH Balthasarstr. 79-81 50670 Cologne/Germany phone +49-2 21-5 39 70 90 fax +49-2 21-5 39 70 910 [email protected] www.the-match-factory.com

PROGRESS Film-Verleih GmbH Immanuelkirchstr. 14b 10405 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-24 00 32 25 fax +49-30-24 00 32 22 [email protected] www.progress-film.de

SOLA Media GmbH Osumstr. 17 70599 Stuttgart/Germany phone +49-7 11-4 79 36 66 fax +49-7 11-4 79 26 58 [email protected] www.sola-media.net

CINEPOOL A Division of TELEPOOL GmbH Sonnenstr. 21 80331 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-55 87 60 fax +49-89-55 87 61 91 06 [email protected] www.telepool.de

Transit Film GmbH Dachauer Str. 35 80335 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-59 98 85-0 fax +49-89-59 98 85-20 [email protected], [email protected] www.transitfilm.de

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GERMAN FILMS: A PROFILE German Films Service + Marketing is the national information and advisory center for the promotion of German films worldwide. It was established in 1954 under the name Export-Union of German Cinema as the umbrella association for the Association of German Feature Film Producers, the Association of New German Feature Film Producers and the Association of German Film Exporters, and operates today in the legal form of a limited company. In 2004, the company was reorganized and now operates under the name: German Films Service + Marketing GmbH. Shareholders are the Association of German Film Producers, the German Producers Alliance, the Association of German Film Exporters, the German Federal Film Board (FFA), the Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek, the German Documentary Association, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern and Filmstiftung NRW representing the seven main regional film funds, and the German Short Film Association. Members of the advisory board are: Martin Moszkowicz (chairman), Peter Dinges, Antonio Exacoustos, Sylke Gottlebe, Prof. Dr. Klaus Schaefer, Ulrike Schauz German Films itself has 10 members of staff: Mariette Rissenbeek, managing director Julia Basler, project coordinator/documentary film Katherine Grzelak, managing director’s assistant Angela Hawkins, publications & website editor Barbie Heusinger, project coordinator/distribution support Nicole Kaufmann, project coordinator Kim Liebeck, festival coordinator Martin Scheuring, project coordinator/short film Konstanze Welz, project coordinator/television Stephanie Wimmer, project coordinator In addition, German Films has foreign representatives in key territories around the world. German Films’ budget of presently €4.7 million comes from film export levies, the office of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, and the FFA. The seven main regional film funds (FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Filmförderung Hamburg SchleswigHolstein, Filmstiftung NRW, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MFG Baden-Württemberg, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, and Nordmedia) make a financial contribution – currently amounting to €319,000 – towards the work of German Films. German Films is a founding member of the European Film Promotion, a network of European film organizations with similar responsibilities to those of German Films. The organization, with its headquarters in Hamburg, aims to develop and realize joint projects for the presentation of European films on an international level.

German Films’ range of activities includes: Close cooperation with major international film festivals, including Berlin, Cannes, Venice, San Sebastian, Locarno, Rome, Karlovy Vary, Montreal, Toronto, New York, Shanghai, Warsaw, and Moscow Organization of umbrella stands for German sales companies and producers at international television and film markets (Berlin, Cannes, AFM Los Angeles, Shanghai) Staging of “Festivals of German Films” in selected international territories Staging of the “German Premieres” industry screenings in New York, London, Tokyo, and other selected territories Providing advice and information for representatives of the international press and buyers from the fields of cinema, video, and television Providing advice and information for German filmmakers and press on international festivals, conditions of participation, and German films being shown Organization of the annual NEXT GENERATION/SHORT TIGER short film program, which presents a selection of shorts and is internationally premiered at Cannes Publication of informational literature about current German films and the German film industry (German Films Quarterly), as well as international market analyses and special festival brochures An Internet website (www.german-films.de) offering information about new German films, a film archive, information and links to German and international film festivals and institutions, and a VOD platform for buyers and festival delegates Organization of the selection procedure for the German entry for the Oscar® for Best Foreign Language Film Collaboration with Deutsche Welle’s DW-TV KINO program which features the latest German film releases and international productions in Germany Organization of the “German Films Previews” geared toward arthouse distributors and buyers of German films Selective financial Distribution Support for the foreign releases of German films Organization with Unifrance of the annual German-French film meeting In association and cooperation with its shareholders, German Films works to promote feature, documentary, television and short films.

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FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES

IMPRINT

Argentina Gustav Wilhelmi Ayacucho 495, 2º ”3“ C1026AAA Buenos Aires/Argentina phone +54 -11- 49 52 15 37 phone/fax +54 -11- 49 51 19 10 [email protected]

Italy Alessia Ratzenberger A-PICTURES srl Clivo delle Mura Vaticane 60 - int. 9 00136 Rome/Italy phone +39-06-48 90 22 30 fax +39-06-48 85 797 [email protected]

United Kingdom Iris Ordonez 37 Arnison Road East Molesey KT8 9JR/Great Britain phone +44-20-89 79 86 28 [email protected]

China Anke Redl CMM Intelligence B 621, Gehua Tower No. 1, Qinglong Hutong Dongcheng District Beijing 100007/China phone +86-10-84 18 64 68 fax +86-10-84 18 66 90 [email protected]

Japan Tomosuke Suzuki Nippon Cine TV Corporation Suite 123, Gaien House 2-2-39 Jingumae, Shibuya-Ku 150-0001 Tokyo/Japan phone +81-3-34 05 09 16 fax +81-3-34 79 08 69 [email protected]

USA & Canada Oliver Mahrdt Hanns Wolters International Inc. 501 Fifth Avenue, #2112A New York, NY 10017/USA phone +1-212-714 0100 fax +1-212-643 1412 [email protected]

Eastern Europe Simone Baumann Koernerstrasse 56 04107 Leipzig/Germany phone +49-3 41-96 36 80 fax +49-3 41-9 63 68 44 [email protected]

Spain Stefan Schmitz Avalon Productions S.L. Pza. del Cordón, 2 28005 Madrid/Spain phone +34-91-3 66 43 64 fax +34-91-3 65 93 01 [email protected]

German Films Quarterly is published by: German Films Service + Marketing GmbH Herzog-Wilhelm-Strasse 16 80331 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-5 99 78 70 fax +49-89-59 97 87 30 [email protected] www.german-films.de

Editor Production Reports Contributors for this issue

Angela Hawkins Martin Blaney, Simon Kingsley Martin Blaney, Christoph Gröner

Translations

Lucinda Rennison

Cover Photo

Scene from 4 DAYS IN MAY (photo © X Filme)

Design & Art Direction

Werner Schauer, www.triptychon.biz

ISSN 1614-6387 Printing Office Credits are not contractual for any of the films mentioned in this publication. © German Films Service + Marketing GmbH All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. PEFC / 04-31-1180

german films quarterly 2 · 2011

ESTA DRUCK GMBH, Obermuehlstrasse 90, 82398 Polling/Germany

German Films supports the use of paper from sustainable forestry. The pages of this magazine are made of PEFC certificated cellulose. PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes) is the largest independent organization worldwide for securing and continuously improving a sustainable forest management and it guarantees ecological, social and economic standards. Currently there are 215 million hectares of PEFC certificated forest worldwide.

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NEW FILMS FROM GERMANY IN CANNES

GERMAN PAVILION · #126 · INTERNATIONAL VILLAGE GERMAN FILMS · phone +33-(0)4-92 59 01 80 · fax +33-(0)4-92 59 01 81 · www.german-films.de FOCUS GERMANY · phone +33-(0)4-92 59 00 04 · fax +33-(0)4-92 59 00 05 · www.focusgermany.de